Smiley Faces
by Gabrielle Roe
Summary: Who would want to marry someone with a freaky smile? That's right, no one. But to my mom, anything is possible with enough effort and the right blue bloods matchmaker! Which is why I'm being allowed to attend Ouran Academy as a boy and along the way, I discover new and old friends and come to terms with myself after the incident which left me with a terrifying smile.
1. Chapter 1

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, trying my best to ignore Mom's persistent stare. She sat across the table from me, right next to Madame Bellerose, the blue bloods matchmaker. They were both upset with me just because I wanted a little haircut and dye job done.

"What did you do to your hair, Hiroki?" Mom asked calmly.

"Kuro took me to this place in the commoner's mall to get it cut," I said without making any eye contact. "It's not horrible, is it?"

Mom and Madame Bellerose shared a look before looking at me with a deadpan face and saying in complete unison, "you look like a boy."

I pouted and folded my arms across my chest. "So? What's wrong with looking like a boy?"

"I wouldn't have a problem with this, Hiroki, if you weren't using your chest binder," Mom said, gesturing to my abnormally flat chest. So I felt like cosplaying today and was too lazy to take it off to meet with Madame Bellerose, sue me.

Mom sighed and leaned in her seat. "Honestly, Hiroki, you'll never get married at this rate."

"I'm 15 years old, I don't want to get married right off the bat," I argued.

"I know, Sweetie, that's why we have Madame Bellerose," Mom said.

Lately, because Mom has noticed my scars more and more, she's worried that no one will marry the freaky chick with a big ass smile. So that's why she hired Madame Bellerose. For the last few months, Madame Bellerose has tried her hardest to set me up with a rich boy that can look past the scars and actually like the weird person I am.

Yeah, no, that's not happening anytime soon.

She has set me up at least ten times and they all have either ran away or made ugly comments about my ugly scars. I don't want to show them the scars. I want to hide it with make up and a mask, but Madame Bellerose says I must show them my face because if they truly did like me then they won't be bothered by the hideous smile.

If you can't guess yet, I have a glasgow smile. If you don't know what that is, just look it up on google. If you're too lazy to look it up, then think of the Joker in Batman Begins. It looks kind of like that, but the skin isn't as puckered. Actually, from what it used to be, it looks so much better and with a bit of makeup, I can hide it. But I get paranoid so I'll wear a mask every now and then if I go out. Mom, who has eyes like a hawk, just can't over it and it's why she's so desperate to find me a match ASAP.

I sighed. "Mom, please, I don't want to date right now. In fact, I just want to get school done and over with before even thinking about dating a boy."

"That's right, you're attending Ouran Academy, right?" Madame Bellerose asked, looking at me with a gentle smile.

I snorted and glowered at Mom, who just looked around the meeting room innocently. "Tomorrow I'll be starting school. Mom here was worried that if someone saw my scars, I would be bullied even though she perfectly knows I am capable of defending myself thanks to Tao and Kuro and the Haninozuka's."

"You're my baby, I have a right to worry about you," Mom said, trying to defend herself.

"I went all throughout last year in middle school perfectly fine. No one even knew about it," I deadpanned.

"But that's because Tao was here covering it up!" Mom whined like a little kid.

Tao, the middle child, is probably the best makeup artist Japan has seen. He would use me for practice and in return would cover up my glasgow smile with expert skills. Tao moved to America over the summer for college, leaving me with masks and basic make up skills. Mom has been too paranoid to hire a makeup artist to take over Tao's old position. She was afraid they would let it leak out that the third Ookubo child was disfigured and start a whole bunch of rumors. So she's kept me on lock down since the start of school and has Kuro escort me around should I need a breath of fresh air.

Madame Bellerose stared at me with chocolate brown eyes for a long while. At some point, I got nervous under her gaze and began shifting in my seat again. I let out a sigh of relief when she broke out into a grin and turned to my mom.

"I have an idea of getting your daughter a suitor," Madame Bellerose said, catching Mom's attention.

"What?"

"Let her go to Ouran as a boy."

Mom and I just stared at Madame Bellerose in disbelief. I wouldn't mind, considering I already know what the girl's uniforms look like and more than the half the cosplays I do are male. But I'm just wondering how that is going to get me a boyfriend.

"Allow me to explain, please," Madame Bellerose said and straightened out her purple pencil skirt. "You want a man who will look past your daughter's . . . flaws and love her for who she is. I ask you enter her into Ouran Academy as a boy, without her mask or any makeup. There the students, including the boys, will get to know her for who she is."

"None of the students at Ouran know me," I added on, getting an appreciative look from Madame Bellerose.

Hey, if it would get me out of wearing a big yellow dress, I'm all for it.

"But what about her name?" Mom countered, trying to fight against this new idea, though she looked like she was going to give at any moment.

"You and your husband have done a good job at hiding your children from the media, Fumiyo. As far as the world knows, you have three children and two of them are already in college. You made sure that the schools your children went to used false last names. If we enter Hiroki Ookubo into Ouran as a boy, no one will be suspicious. If you or Hiroki are questioned about where she went to school, just tell them she went studying abroad with her father," Madame Bellerose paused, noticing the strained look on Mom's face. "Fumiyo, I know how protective of your children you are. You want to protect them from the media, but you know this bubble around them won't last forever."

"What about when we reveal Hiroki as a girl?"

"Actually, that is a very good question." I nodded my head, agreeing with my mother on this one.

"I have an idea in mind, but we will have to work out a few kinks. So, what do you say, Fumiyo, Hiroki?" Madame Bellerose asked, looking at us expectantly.

"I'm okay with it. It'll kind of be like cosplaying," I said with a cheesy grin.

Mom glanced at me nervously before letting go of a shaky breath. "Okay, you two win."

* * *

**Hi, is'a me, Gabby!**

**Sorry the first chapter is a little short. I plan to make each chapter a chapter from the manga (yeah, I'm gonna go with the manga because (a) it has more adventures, (b) I love the manga version of Haruhi in Wonderland, and (c) it's just easier for me to get the material from). So I know I shouldn't be posting another story considering I already have two that I need to continue and stuff, but I couldn't help myself. ;w;**

**I kind of got the idea for this after watching Penelope and reading/watching shows on various murders and how some people leave a trademark thing. Yeah, strange how I saw those two things and decided to make an Ouran fanfic . . . **

**I hope you all enjoy this little fanfic of mine.**

**Toodles~**


	2. Chapter 2

I ducked around another corner, narrowly avoiding another person. So far, so good.

Okay, yes, I'm supposed to be making friends, getting to know people, etcetera, etcetera. I just can't get past this fear of rejection. What will happen when they see some guy with a creepy ass scar on their face, different colored eyes, and blue bangs? Thug, punk, and scary in general are the first things that come to mind.

"Thank God I didn't have to go to classes today," I mumbled to myself and walked down the empty hallway.

I had a meeting with Chairman Suoh today and apparently he knows about my predicament. For most of the day, he was giving me a tour himself while simultaneously keeping us out of sight from the other students of Ouran. He must know that I'm not too comfortable with so many people around me. Before leaving me to my own devices, he told me I should go to Music Room 3. The piano in there is apparently in desperate need of fixing and seeing as I come from a musically talented family who runs a business that sells instruments of every shape and size, maybe I could see what was wrong with it and fix it up for free. I'm not one for actually repairing, but I could see what the problem was and have someone come down and fix it.

"In, out, then head home," I said softly and approached large double doors.

Grabbing the handles, I pushed open the doors. Red rose petals floated past me and my eyes widened in horror when I saw seven attractive looking guys standing there, smiling and wearing these tropical outfits, minus one guy who was actually wearing the uniform. Not only that, but the room looked like a tropical paradise with legit plants and animals.

"Welcome," they said in unison.

My hands flew to my face to cover up the scars and my slightly red face, a reflex I received over the past few years.

"Well, who do we have here? I don't remember seeing your lovely face around here before," the tall blonde boy spoke, his voice smoother than silk.

I hesitantly shook my head. "I'm new here."

"Eh? What's that?" The ginger twins said, placing a hand to their ear. "We couldn't quite catch that."

"Are you perhaps the new student, Hiroki Ookubo?" asked the tall guy with glasses, looking up from his little black book.

I nodded my head.

"Hiroki Ookubo . . ." The smallest member hummed quietly, going unnoticed by everyone but his extremely tall friend and me. He was staring intently at me, as though he were trying to solve a puzzle.

"Hang on, like a kid from the Ookubo Music Industry?" The tall blond asked, looking at me with slightly wide eyes.

"Yeah . . . I was sent up here to check on a piano," I said but it was muffled by my hands.

"Maybe if Hiro-chan moved his hands, we can understand him!" The small blond boy said cheerfully, running up to me and tugging on my arms.

"Honey-senpai, maybe that's not such a good idea," a brunette boy, a few inches taller than this so called Honey-senpai, said.

Sighing inwardly, I shook my head and after much hesitation on my part, dropped my hands.

"Whoa," the ginger twins chorused.

My scars were exposed and all they could do was stare. Honey-senpai, being so close, probably got every tiny little detail of them. But there was something in his eyes that looked serious, like he had seen something similar before. The others were just staring either in curiosity or shock. It seemed like the only one who wasn't staring was Mr. Glasses, who had his nose stuck in that notebook of his.

"I was sent here to check on a piano," I repeated myself, trying my best to ignore their gazes.

"I'm afraid you will have to wait for that, Ookubo-san," the boy with glasses said, snapping the other's out of their trance, looking past me and towards the door.

Before I could ask why, the doors opened and girls came running in like a herd of startled animals. I would've been trampled if Honey-senpai hadn't pulled me to safety, regaining that childish act once more. He kind of left me by this kitchenette, leaving to join the tallest guy in the club and a couple of girls. Everyone just went on to . . . flirt with the girls, I guess you could say. I stood off to the side, awkwardly observing everything going on while trying to find the damn piano so I can leave.

"How miserable! My smooth skin, like ivory, my moderately tightened muscles, King of Bali's costume that looks very good on me," the tall blonde said, catching my attention. He leaned close to a girl, a charming smile on his face. "Everything is just a faithful servant who kneels in front of the goddess, you . . ."

"Tamaki-kun!" the girl swooned.

"What are you doing for the Christmas party?" A girl sitting by the ginger twins asked, the girl next to her nodding excitedly.

"Well," one twin started. "We reserved the entire large hall in the central campus, so there will be a dance."

"And we're thinking of having some casinos. Of course it will come with rewards," the other twin said.

The first one suddenly leaned in close to his twin, gently grabbing his chin while smiling and trying to look all smug and cool. "Actually I wanted to spend some time alone, Kaoru."

The other twin, Kaoru, had tears in his eyes and what Kuro would call a submissive look. "Don't say that, Hikaru! I wanted it too!"

The girls squealed at their incesty display, making me cringe. God, how can they possibly be that loud? It's unnatural.

"I apologize if you are not used to our club, Ookubo-san."

I jumped at the sound of Mr. Glasses speaking. I turned to my left and saw him standing there. The brunette boy walking towards us to refill some glasses with whatever they were serving. I just happened to notice the way he was walking, he was putting more emphasis on the hips than the other guys. You wouldn't really be able to notice but after attending many cons in many cosplays, I learned to watch body language and movements to know what gender I was speaking to. Sadly this brunette is a girl and I am straight, so I can scratch her off the list.

"It seems like the guests tension is higher than usual," the brunette commented, watching the girls blush and giggle like stereotypical ditzy American blonde chicks.

"Being slightly naked is popular. We had another plan, too, though. Santa Claus' costume play," Mr. Glasses explained, this business sort of smile on his face. He pushed up his glasses, fake smiling at the brunette and I. "I'm glad I put that Bali scenery photo book in front of Tamaki. Of course, I don't have any say over this."

How manipulative of him. Of course, if I was in his situation, I probably would've done the same thing.

"I believe I haven't properly introduced myself yet, Ookubo-san. I am Kyoya Ootori," he said, not even looking the least bit startled by the glasgow smile of mine. In fact, he acted as it wasn't there. Maybe we could get along.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ootori-san," I said politely.

"Kyaaa! Honey-kun, you're so cute!" A girl practically shouted, blushing towards the adorable senpai and drawing our attention.

Honey-senpai was smiling at her, slightly holding up his lei of beautiful red flowers. "This is Bali's national flower~ We imported it."

His tall friend just so happened to be walking by, carrying a pineapple for . . . God knows why. Maybe he's planning to cut it into strips and hand them out? Honey-senpai caught sight of him and suddenly grabbed one too many leis.

"Takashi, Takashi!" He called out, catching the giant's attention.

Honey-senpai ran up to Takashi, then climbed up him. I swear to god, he actually climbed up him, like a monkey! Ahem, anyway, Honey-senpai placed one of the leis around Takashi's neck and smiled brightly, making him look cuter if that was even possible.

"Yay~! We're wearing the same clothes!" Honey-senpai cheered, causing one of the girls to faint from the absolute adorableness that is Honey-senpai.

Once they made sure the girl was okay, Kyoya and the brunette resumed flirting with the guests and Honey-senpai looked at the lei in his hands, unsure of what to do with it. His eyes scanned the music room until they finally landed on me. He smiled and hopped down from Takashi's arms and ran up to me. My eyes widened, bracing myself as the short blonde boy leapt into my arms and put the lei around my neck.

"There! Now you, me, _and _Takashi match!" Honey-senpai said then hugged me.

When he pulled away, I examined the lei with wide, curious eyes. It was really, really beautiful and so vibrant and alive.

"Thank you Honey-senpai, no one's ever given me a lei before," I said, smiling at the short blonde boy.

"Ah, who is he?" I heard one girl whisper to her friend.

"I don't know," she replied then glanced me over, smiling at the sight of Honey-senpai in my arms. "Maybe he's another host?"

Host? What the hell is a host? Are hosts guys who flirt with girls? Are they like escorts? If so, then I want out of here. Now.

"Hiro-chan, wanna eat some cake with me?" Honey-senpai asked, slipping out of my grip and landing on his feet.

"Uh . . ." I really just wanted to look at this piano and go (and leave before they could rope me into the escort business), but he was giving me these puppy dog eyes. "Sure."

* * *

Mom is going to kill me. Or maybe not. Maybe if I tell her that I was kept at school so much longer than needed was because the chairman sent me to a club filled with gorgeous guys that have yet to stare too long, bully me, or just in general make me hate them and eliminate them immediately from Madame Bellerose's list of potential boyfriends/suitors, maybe, just maybe, she won't kill me.

"Maybe I should head home now . . ." I whispered to Honey-senpai, watching Tamaki sulk in the corner, eating what Hikaru and Kaoru called commoners ramen.

"Please stay, Hiro-chan! I promise to show you the piano once the club meeting is over," Honey-senpai said for the fourth time that afternoon.

"It's not like her illness just started," Kyoya said, pulling Honey-senpai and I back to the world in which Tamaki was sulking and some poor girl was sick.

"Illness?" Haruhi asked.

"So-called "switching guys disease." Also known as host club wanderer," the twins explained, shrugging.

"Usually regular guests stick to one host forever," Kyoya started, making it sound like these girls do not and will never have a life outside of Ouran Academy. "But she likes to change her favorite every now and then."

"It was Tama-chan's turn until a little while ago," Honey-senpai said, thusly explaining Tamaki's foul mood.

"So he's upset because Haruhi took his guest away from him," I said, getting a few startled looks from some of the hosts. Apparently I'm that easily forgettable.

"NO! THAT'S NOT IT!" Tamaki screamed in our faces.

He turned on Haruhi and pointed at him. "I can't stand it anymore, Haruhi! Wear proper girls' clothing! How can you be so popular among girls when you yourself are a girl! I tell you, it's only the club members that know you are a girl!"

Well it's actually the club plus one. Maybe if I stay quiet during this entire meeting or whatever, I can get away scot free and not deal with a screaming Tamaki. Don't get me wrong, he probably couldn't harm a fly. It's just he's really loud and his screams grate on my ear drums.

"Dad . . . Dad wants . . ." Tamaki mumbled as he sifted through a trunk that magically appeared out of thin air. He finally hefted out a picture of what is obviously a younger Haruhi, maybe a year or two, when she had long hair that suited her well. "DAD WANTS TO SEE WHEN YOU WERE LIKE THIS!"

"DON'T JUST ENLARGE MY PHOTO WITHOUT PERMISSION!" Haruhi exclaimed.

"That is a very rude thing to do without asking a girl's permission," I said with a slight nod of the head, getting the host's attention once more. Shit. I just broke my vow of silence.

"Ah, Ookubo-san, may I have a word with you?" Kyoya said, a business smile gracing his face.

He led me not too far off from the rest of the club where we sat on a couch and helped ourselves to tea and a bit of cake. He probably poisoned my portion so I can't tell anyone about Haruhi. But when would he get the time to do that? Oh well, if I do get poisoned, I can say with absolutely certainty I died happy with a full stomach.

"It seems you have figured out our club's little secret," Kyoya said, pulling out his black note book and a pen.

"Well, in my opinion, you should teach your president not to be so loud," I said and sipped my tea, pinky out. "But then again, I already knew before. Did you know she just barely puts more emphasis on her hips than you guys? Not to mention her feminine face and eyes, and once you think about it, her voice too."

"Yes, well, I have a proposition for you, Ookubo-san. Today I noticed that some of the female students have taken an interest in you. On behalf of the Host club, I would like for you to join us in return for not telling Haruhi's little secret," Kyoya said.

"You're kidding me, right? That has to be some kind of joke," I scoffed at the idea. "No person in their right mind would take an interest in this face unless they want to hear the story of how it happened."

"If I remember clearly, I believe they said 'beauty on the inside counts as well,'" he said, his glasses catching the lights reflection.

I opened my mouth to decline his offer but then remembered the reason I was going to this school, not dressed in those yellow monstrosities. Mom and Madame Bellerose would definitely kill me if I turned down an offer like this. A war was raging on inside my mind, me vs. Mom and Madame Bellerose. They easily overpowered me together and cried cheers of victory, dancing over my bruised and battered body and ignoring my moans of pain.

"Alright, I guess I can join," I sighed. "Now can someone please show me this broken piano?"

"You haven't figured it out yet? There is no broken piano," Kyoya stated.

Damn you, Chairman Suoh!

* * *

"Class, I'd like you to welcome our new student, Ookubo, Hiroki," the teacher said, gesturing to me, who stood in front of the class.

I was wearing my uniform, though the blazer was open and the tie loosened. My usually unruly brown and blue hair was tamed today after Kuro snuck into my room and attacked me in my sleep. Sometimes, I loved my big brother. Other times, I wanted to strangle him with a belt and hide his body in the maze on the school grounds.

"Please do your best to make him feel comfortable and welcomed here at Ouran," he said and then instructed me to take the only seat available, one right in front of Haruhi.

As soon as I sat down, he launched into a speech about literature, mainly about famous playwrights. Up until the bell rang for lunch, I was eagerly jotting down notes and getting tiny balls of crunched up paper thrown at me by the twins for their own amusement. Haruhi would quietly hiss at them to stop and for a short while they would before resuming.

When lunch rolled around, I escaped the twins with my homemade lunch and ran towards the gardens. Once I deemed it safe and the twins were no longer after me, I travelled deep into the maze. Not a smart move on my part, once getting lost inside my own house for two days (to be fair though, I barely moved in when it happened), but it was really pretty.

"I should probably stop soon," I mumbled to myself then smiled when I saw a little gazebo not too far up ahead.

Jogging the rest of the way, I took shelter in the gazebo and opened up my sack lunch. Kuro said he packed it, but it was obviously our chef. No way could Kuro make something as delicious as homemade mac and cheese and chocolate chip cookies with milk chocolate chips to make them even sweeter. Kuro was blessed with many gifts, but cooking wasn't one of them, unfortunately.

"Hey, Hiroki!"

Speaking of annoying siblings . . .

"Kuro, what the hell are you doing here? In the maze?" I asked when Kuro's head popped into view. "Have you been stalking me all day?"

"I just came to check on my little 'brother' and see if you beat anyone up yet," Kuro grinned at me much like a cat and slid into the gazebo next to me. "And I kind of saw the maze and got interested . . . and got lost . . . for two hours."

I laughed at Kuro until he smacked me over the head. We glared at each other before breaking out into grins. Like I said earlier, sometimes I love my brother, sometimes I want to kill him. In this case, I loved my brother for sneaking into a high school just to check up on me.

"So anything new happen?" Kuro asked and stole my fork to take a bite of my mac and cheese.

"Well, don't tell Mom or Madame Bellerose, but I joined this club where these cute guys flirt with girls and they go to the extremes! I'm not kidding. The first time I met them, the third music room looked like a tropical paradise. They imported all kinds of things like Bali's national flower, plants, even animals!" I exclaimed, taking my fork back from Kuro and began eating my lunch. "To be honest, they seem nice, but must be insane to do all that _and _ask me to join."

"Wait, so this club of cute guys asked you to join their club which involves you flirting with other girls?" Kuro asked to make sure he got all the details correctly. "No mean to dis you or anything, baby girl, but why ask you? Do you agree with me when I say not everyone thinks scars are sexy?"

"I agree. Really, they only asked me because I figured out one of their members is a girl, which sucks because she makes a cute guy, but she also makes a cute girl," I said with a full mouth, but after knowing me since birth, Kuro got the jist of what I had said.

"I think you should let me be the judge-"

"Don't even think about it. You're twenty and she's my age, dude. That's creeping and creepy," I said, shoving the last bit of mac and cheese in his mouth to keep him from talking even though I know he was joking.

"You're no fun, Hiroki," Kuro whined.

"Please, you know I'm a riot, especially after we spent that year with Dad in a America," I said, smiling fondly at the memory.

We spent the rest of my lunch reminiscing about the time we went to Disneyland and went nearly every single ride. Our favorite was when we were on Splash Mountain and I was sitting in front, Tao right behind me, then Kuro, Mom, and Dad was last. At the time, I was 12, Tao was 15, and Kuro was 17, but we acted like we were little kids again, splashing each other until we heard some guy's voice on the intercom tell us to stop for our own safety. By far my favorite part was when we were near the end of the ride and it was getting demented and Kuro was screaming out of "fear" (really, just to get Tao and I to laugh) and when we fell down the waterfall and the picture we saw and took a picture of.

Now, my family may be filthy rich, but that doesn't necessarily mean we turn our nose at a dirty joke or have a stick up our asses. In the picture, I was pulling on my cheeks and sticking my tongue at the camera, Tao had pulled out a newspaper and put his old man reading glasses on, Kuro stuck up his middle finger, pulled down on his bottom eyelid, and stuck his tongue out. Then came my parents. . . . My parents . . . Dad was groping one of Mom's boobs and giving the camera a thumbs up and Mom was just laughing at Dad's antics. It took us half an hour to convince the lady at the picture desk to let us get a copy of it. Kuro successfully got her to agree after slipping her a hundred. We blew that picture up and it's currently hanging up in my dad's office.

When the bell rang, I packed up my lunch and told Kuro that I had to stay after school all week.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because your baby 'brother' is going to practice waltzing," I said. "Later, Kuro."

"Bye-bye Hiroki," Kuro said and we separated.

* * *

"Quick, quick, slow. You put your legs together at the pause," said the girl who was currently teaching Haruhi how to waltz properly.

The rest of us were either dancing or standing off to the side. Tamaki was sulking by the window, apparently upset that he couldn't teach Haruhi to waltz. Honey-senpai and Takashi were dancing, if you could even call it that. Honey-senpai was being the male and leading, but they were just spinning in circles. Takashi seemed to be cool with it and went with the flow. The twins, Kyoya, and I were standing close to the walls, watching Haruhi's progression.

"Do you know how to waltz, Hiroki?" the twins asked in perfect unison.

"Yep," I said, popping the P.

"How can we be sure?" The asked, getting inside my bubble while eyeing me suspiciously.

"Um, ever heard of personal space? If not, I suggest you look into it because it's a pretty awesome thing," I said and took a step back. "And if you want to find out, why not just dance with me?"

"No way-"

Haruhi fell, bringing the girl down with her, simultaneously interrupting the twins from probably saying something mean to me. Probably something about the smile or my hair or my eyes. I don't get why people are weirded out by the eyes, I think they're awesome. My left eye is a vibrant blue and my right eye is a nice shade of brown. How do people get freaked out by that? It's neat having two different eye colors.

"I-I'm sorry, Kasugazaki-san!" Haruhi apologized, hovering over her.

Kasugazaki-san just wrapped her arms around Haruhi's neck and pulled her closer, saying, "it's alright, Haruhi-kun."

"Tono's acting blue," said one of the twins. "And he's posing like a model."

That's true. The sunlight from the window was hitting Tamaki in a way as though he was waiting for one of us to take a picture.

"I heard he wanted to be the practice partner. If you think about it, he will never be Haruhi's female practice partner because of their height," the other twin said, adding a, "how stupid" at the end.

"Eeeh? We're okay with it!" Honey-senpai said, overhearing their little conversation.

"Ahh, yes, yes, Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai are good," the twins said and muttered under their breath, "You guys are out of common sense already."

I light smacked the back of their heads and they look at me as though I just punched them as hard as I could.

"If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all," I said, frowning slightly at them.

They scoffed at me and walked away, leaving me all by my lonesome. Technically there is Kyoya and Tamaki, but Kyoya's sucked into his own little, manipulative world and Tamaki was too busy sulking. So I was really on my lonesome here. Oh well, maybe I'll see if Haruhi needs any help with Kasugazaki-san.

"I'm sorry, Kasugazaki-san, to make you my practice partner. Please, have a cup of tea," Haruhi offered, picking up a tray containing a teapot and a single tea cap.

Kasugazaki-san was resting at a small table, dabbing at the sweat on her face and neck with a fluffy white towel. "Oh, I'm totally okay with it."

_Someone should really break the news to her that Haruhi's a chick,_ I thought as I approached them.

"I heard you are limiting you guest service for a while to practice. I'm rather happy because I can monopolize you~" Kasugazaki-san said then picked up her cup of tea. Her eyes widened as she stared at the cup. "Dear me, you have a new tea set now. Isn't this Ginori?"

"Indeed, you have a good eye. This is our first day using it," Kyoya said, walking up to the three of us.

"I see. . . . What a beautiful color," she hummed, getting lost in her own little fantasy as she stared at the cup.

Of course, me being me, I had to say something like, "You must really like tableware a lot."

She freaked out turning to me and simultaneous dropping her tea cup. "NOT REALLY?! I DON'T REALLY LIKE IT! OH MY WHAT ARE YOU-Ouch!" Kasugazaki yelped when her boiling hot tea spilled onto her finger.

Immediately I felt bad for causing such a scare. "I'm so, so sorry, Kasugazaki-san! Let's go to the nurse's office!"

She seemed hesitant to go with me, which did dampen my semi-happy mood a little, but once Haruhi offered her a hand, she willingly came along. The three of us raced down the hallway to reach the third Nurse's office. I opened the door for the two and let them enter first.

"Doctor," Haruhi said upon entering and spotting a brown haired boy who couldn't be that much older than us.

"The doctor's not here . . . what is it?" he asked, noticing how Kasugazaki-san was cradling her burnt finger.

"Kasugazaki-san accidentally spilled some hot tea on her finger after I kind of scared her," I said, looking at the floor shamefully.

He jumped into the action to help Kasugazaki-san. "Let me see."

But she slapped his hand away, saying, "no, thank you," then proceeded to wrap her arms around Haruhi, like she was trying to make him jealous or something. "I'll ask Haruhi-kun to take care of it, right?"

"Eh, but . . ." she said and untangled herself from Kasugazaki-san, turning to the mystery boy. "If there's an assistant nurse, then . . ."

"He's another student, Haruhi," I said, smiling at the brunette girl. "He _is _wearing the uniform."

"My dear haruhi-kun," Kasugazaki-san laughed. "But it cannot be helped. He doesn't look like the heir of a first-rate corporation," Ouch, I'm pretty sure that was an insult. What is this girl's deal with that guy? "Anyway, why are you here? Can it be you saw us coming, so you stayed?"

"No . . . I'm greeting the teachers. I need to finish this within this semester," he said, smiling at us and raising his arms in defense. He turned to exit the office. "Since the teacher's not here, I'll come back later. See you."

He closed the door and Haruhi and I turned to Kasugazaki-san.

"Is he your friend?" I asked, causing her to freak out again.

"NO, I DON'T KNOW HIM! OH MY, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING, OOKUBO-SAN?" she screamed, knocking into a medical cabinet. "It seems the burn's not serious either, so I'll be going now. Farewell."

She ran for the door and as she grabbed the handle, the door flung open, smashing right into poor Kasugazaki-san and making me freak out. Standing in the doorway was Takashi, or should I call him Mori-senpai? Either way, the tallest host was standing in the doorway, carrying Honey-senpai on his back, who had tears in his eyes.

"An . . . An injury," Mori-senpai panted.

"Ka-Kasugazaki-san," I said feebly with my own tears in my eyes.

She got up and ran past Mori and Honey-senpai, waving goodbye to us even though it was clear that blow to the head hurt pretty badly.

"Ta-take care?" Haruhi offered, waving back to her.

Mori-senpai set Honey-senpai on a chair and set to work on fixing the door he broke the hinges off and cracked. Haruhi tended to the scratch on Honey-senpai's arm and I stayed in the corner, frowning with tears in my eyes while keeping my face parallel with the floor. Maybe if I look at the floor, I won't scare anyone else ever again.

"You got stepped on by Mori-senpai when you fell?" Haruhi said after Honey-senpai told the tale of how he got a scratch. "Ah . . . But this probably isn't that bad."

Honey-senpai was still frowning and had tears in his eyes, which should be illegal because he's breaking my heart and it's too damn cute.

"Don't worry, Mori-senpai. It's only a scratch," Haruhi said to Mori-senpai.

Mori-senpai looked up and gave Haruhi the slightest of smiles.

"Haru-chan, Hiro-chan, did you talk to Suzushima-kun earlier? I saw him coming out of the Nurse's office," Honey-senpai said, back to his usual happy, childish self.

I looked up and saw Honey-senpai had moved to sitting on Haruhi's lap.

"Suzushima?" she asked.

"Suzushima Toru-kun from grade 11 class C, Kasuga-chan's fiancee~" Honey-senpai said.

While they were talking, I was rummaging through the medical supplies. I smiled a little when I found a medical mask that I could wear for the rest of the day. I was about to put it on, but a hand snatched it away from me. I turned and saw it was Mori-senpai who took my mask.

"Mori-senpai, may I please have that mask back?" I asked politely, hoping it would get some results.

He shook his head. It got results, just not the one I wanted.

"Come on, I need that!" I said, jumping for the mask, but he held it high above my reach. Damn tall people.

"You don't need a mask, silly Hiro-chan~" Honey-senpai said and hopped onto my back, forcing me to grab him and not the mask.

"B-but I keep scaring Kasugazaki-san and who knows how many other people I scare," I whined, looking up at the mask like it was my only hope for survival.

"You weren't scaring Kasuga-chan," Honey-senpai said.

"And how do you know?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Come back to the host club and it'll all become clear," he said, smiling innocently but had some kind of ominous undertone.

"Right, I still need to practice," Haruhi said thoughtfully.

I sighed and lead the way back to the host club, carrying Honey-senpai on my back all the way. Mori-senpai threw away the mask and made sure I was nowhere near it to get it. He's a smart cookie. I would've dove into that garbage can for that stupid mask just so I would stop scaring friendly, nice people.

We arrived back at the host club and informed the other members of what went down between Suzushima-san and Kasugazaki-san. Tamaki had everyone line up so he could be the center of attention-er, I mean, start a heated discussion that'll help develop an independent mind.

"Everyone!" Tamaki yelled and whipped out two pictures, one being Kasugazaki-san and the other being Suzushima-san. "Discuss Mr. Suzushima and Kasuga-hime's discord! Starting with you, Hitachiin brothers!"

"Excuse me, what happened to my dance lesson?" Haruhi asked, but knew ahead of time that it was pointless to ask.

"YES SIR! They're childhood friends. It seems their parents decided their engagement!" They said in unison, the twin with his hair parted to the left holding papers and the twin with his hair parted on the right held a magnifying glass . . . for whatever reason.

"Next! Kyoya, report about Mr. Suzushima!" Tamaki ordered to which Kyoya replied with a calm and unenthusiastic, "okay."

"Excellent grades, normal pedigree, normal appearance. So called "C" class. His seriousness is his strong point and he'll be studying in the UK starting next spring," Kyoya said, making me wonder how he knows any and all of this. "His weakness is . . ."

"He's not very impressive. Faint hearted," the twins said for him.

"In short, he's plain," Kyoya finished up.

I whistled. "Man, you guys don't have any mercy for the other boys of Ouran," and Haruhi nodded in agreement.

"Hmm . . . makes sense," Tamaki said. "The reason for the princess's illness, 'marrying such a dumb guy in the future is the stupidest thing to do.'"

"'For now, she just wants to play around,' if you think, that's the flow," a twin, I want to say Hikaru, said.

"Can't help it with that plain guy," his twin said.

"Is that how it is?" Haruhi wondered.

Well, I can kind of agree with the flow but it didn't seem like that. To me, at least, it was like she was trying to make him jealous or get some kind of rise out of him by clinging onto Haruhi. I could be right, I could be wrong. Romance isn't exactly my forte, funny considering how much time I spend around Mom and Madame Bellerose.

"Kyoya, you knew about the fiancee all this time?" Tamaki asked Kyoya, sounding a little irritated that he didn't share such information.

"Isn't it my responsibility to investigate our guests?" Kyoya said with that fake charming smile of his. "But there's no real value, so I didn't bother telling."

"I live close to Kasuga-chan's house," Honey-senpai explained his reason for know about the fiancee.

The twins swarmed to Haruhi, either to annoy her or see how she was genuinely doing.

"Haruhi, how's your dancing coming?" the twin to her left asked.

"If I could practice more," Haruhi sighed.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be okay. By the way," the twin to her right said then leaned in really close to Haruhi's face with his twin. "Here's a question for you. If you search on the internet for 'Suzushima', what will you get?"

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Hiroki?" Mom asked for the millionth time as she checked over my suit, smoothing out any wrinkle.

So Kuro caved the moment he got home. Of course, Mom and Madame Bellerose were ecstatic to find out I joined a club with handsome guys and when I told them about this ball they were hosting on December 24th, they called in a few favors and had a suit tailored just for me. A plain white button down shirt with a peach colored vest and tie, and a black and peach pinstripe blazer and slacks.

"Mom, I'll be fine. I'm already really late so I need to go. _Now_." I said, pulling my self from her grip.

"Okay, have fun, baby girl," Mom said and kissed me on the forehead. "You know, I think a paler peach would suit you better. Maybe we can re-dye your bangs this weekend?"

"Bye Mom!" I said and ran out the front door and to the sleek black limousine waiting for me. I hopped into the back and the moment I shut the door and put a seatbelt on, we took off like a bat out of hell.

"Thanks and sorry for the wait, Mr. Toho," I said to my driver.

"It's no problem, Miss Ookubo. Do you need me to pick you up as well?" he asked, looking in his mirror.

"Hm, no. I'll get a ride from one of my club mates," I said, staring out the window and at the setting sun.

"Alright, but just remember, I'm only one call away," Mr. Toho said.

He pulled up to the Ouran Academy gates. I got out and started sprinting for the school. Even from outside I could hear the chatter of girls and the fancy music playing. Crap, they are so going to kill me for being late! It took me a little bit, I located the large hall where the party was being held. The girls were mingling about and the hosts were gathered around Haruhi. I danced my way through the crowd, keeping my head down, until I reached the club, breathing heavily.

"There you are, Hiroki. You're ten minutes late," Tamaki said, taking notice of my sudden appearance.

"Sorry . . . Mom kept me . . . behind longer than . . . expected," I panted. "What's going . . . on? Why's everyone standing around?"

"Ah, we were just discussing Haruhi's home life," Tamaki said cheerfully, a twinkle appearing in his eyes, which frankly creeped me out.

Meanwhile, Haruhi was mumbling to herself about watching Katoh Family's Dinner Table Christmas Special.

"Ah, peasants knowledge for peasants, huh?" Tamaki said, falling in line with the twins.

"No relation whatsoever for us though," the twins said.

"Yes, I knew that'd be the response," Haruhi said.

As they keep talking about the Special, I get more and more confused. I looked to Kyoya, Honey-senpai, and Mori-senpai for some sort of explanation but they gave none. I continued to watch the banter between the twins, Tamaki, and Haruhi, but I couldn't make a word of it. Maybe I missed something?

"Hmm, the gorgeous party doesn't mean anything to you, huh, Haruhi?" one twin said.

"Well, why don't you just eat something them? They're high class foods," Kyoya suggested to Haruhi.

"High class foods? Like . . . fatty tuna?" Haruhi asked, getting this adorable look on her face.

For a split second, everyone froze at her words, myself included, then . . .

"SOMEBODY! BRING FATTY TUNA HERE, QUICK!" Tamaki yelled and Mori-senpai and I kicked into action, grabbing sushi from the tables and running back as quickly as possible.

"What a thrifty person," twin one cooed, his arms wrapped around Haruhi.

"What a shy person," twin two cooed as well.

"Haru-chan, there's tupperware too!" Honey-senpai said, holding up tupperware he got from who know's where.

"Hello? Please add 10 servings of super special sushi. Please be quick," Kyoya said into his phone.

Haruhi wrestled herself out of the twin's grip and disappeared into the crowd, which I also felt like doing at the moment. The other hosts were going overboard with Haruhi trying rich people food and was grabbing plates of roast beef, caviar, anything from the table really. Looking from my left to my right, I saw the coast was clear and disappeared in the crowd with my plate of sushi. Oh well, if Haruhi doesn't want it, I'll just take one for the team and eat it myself. As I was eating my sushi in peace, I couldn't help that the girls either stared at me or steered clear from me. Nope, I wasn't going to get sad. And if I was, I'll just eat my sorrows away with all the delicious food Kyoya ordered.

"Hiroki-kun?"

I turned around, mid-stuffing a piece of sushi in my mouth when I saw a cute girl who was barely taller than Honey-senpai. She had cute thick, curly black hair, brown eyes, a natural tan with a few freckles. She wore a strapless pale pink dress, the skirt poofing out making her look like a cute little cupcake.

I swallowed any food I had in my mouth in one gulp (which hurt going all the way down to my stomach), placed the plate on the food table, and said, "um, hello, princess."

"My name is Keiko. I was hoping you would like to dance with me," she said in a voice as pretty as bells.

I smiled and nodded my head. "If that's what you wish, Princess Keiko, then this beast shall dance with a beauty such as you."

That corny line got her to blush and giggle a little. I linked my arm with hers and lead her out to the dance floor. I placed one hand on her waist and the other held her hand as she put her other hand on my shoulder. We danced around, making small talk with one another. I'm surprised I haven't messed up yet considering I haven't danced in years. Yes, this was another skill I obtained through cosplaying. Yeah, I went to this cosplay birthday in America and while waiting for the other guests to arrive, the hostess and her friends offered to teach people the waltz and the box step. My partner was shorter and female, so I quickly learned the male part.

"I must ask, Princess Keiko, if it's alright, why did you want to dance with me? You could've asked any of the other hosts who are much more handsome than me, and they would have said yes in a heartbeat," I asked.

"Truthfully, my first time going to the host club was when they were having the tropic day. My friend dragged me there and I just wasn't interested in any of them. But then I saw you and . . . I'd really like to request you when the host club starts up again," Keiko said with this dreamy look on her face.

I smiled and was about to reply when I was torn away from a very confused Keiko. Mori-senpai slung me over his shoulder, the other one occupied by Haruhi, and ran with Honey-senpai at his side out of the large hall and into the large hall's waiting room where they had curtains set up as changing rooms.

"Put me down! I _do not_ like to be manhandled!" I yelled, glaring at the back of Mori-senpai's head.

"Oh, here they come," I heard a twin say.

Mori-senpai set Haruhi and I down. The twins quickly shoved a package into Haruhi's arms.

"Wah? Hey, what are you-"

"No complaints. Just go change your clothes!" The twins demanded. "We don't have much time."

"I don't get it, why did you guys have to drag me here? I was having a great time with Keiko until _SOMEONE _kidnapped me," I said, giving Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai a disapproving look.

"We thought you'd want to see Haruhi as a girl too, Hiro-chan, so please don't be mad," Honey-senpai said, hopping in front of me.

I took a deep breath and released it slowly, letting myself calm down. Actually now that I think about it, it was getting pretty hot in there and my binder was do for some readjusting. Maybe I could let this slide for now.

"Just . . . give me a minute," I mumbled and as Haruhi walked out of the changing room, wearing a pink dress and a long haired wig, I stepped into it.

I took off my blazer, vest, and tie and began the process of unbuttoning my shirt.

"Ready? The time limit is 20 minutes until the climax of the party. We already sent Mr. Suzushima to the 11-C classroom," Kyoya said.

"Please find his true feelings, okay?" Honey-senpai asked.

"How troublesome. Tono suddenly started planning this yesterday. The preparation was so tiresome," the twins said.

I took off my shirt and then my binder. I sucked in a deep breath and let it out, smiling at my silly little tradition. It always felt good to take a deep breath right after taking off my binder.

"Hey, Hiroki, are you okay in there?" Haruhi asked.

I began to readjust breasts in my sports bra. "Fine, just fine."

"Are you sure?"

And the curtains opened.

And the door slammed open.

"Well, um, this is a little awkward," I coughed, looking at the shocked and I-knew-there-was-something-off-about-Hiroki expressions. Kyoya, Honey-senpai, and Mori-senpai fell under the "I knew!" category and the rest were shocked and slightly embarrassed at seeing me sticking a hand down my bra. I quickly grew embarrassed then mortified then angry at the twins who were holding the curtain open.

"Close the curtains you idiots!" I screamed and kicked them both in the shin.

The curtains closed and I sat in the semi-darkness, wondering how I was going to tell Mom and Madame Bellerose I was found out.

"Uh, y-you shouldn't come to this room all together!" Tamaki yelled, starting a little out of it but then remembering why he came here in the first place. "You need to attend to the guests . . ." Houston, we lost the blonde idiot king.

I quickly threw on my binder and the rest of my clothes. Oh no, I wasn't leaving the dressing room. But I wasn't going to give them another chance to see me without a shirt on.

"Our best try! How is it, Tono?" the twins asked. "We even put some make-up on her!"

"Ah . . . yeah . . ." Tamaki muttered, to stunned for words.

"ALL RIGHT!" The twins yelled and opened the doors for Haruhi.

"Haru-chan, try your best!" Honey-senpai cheered.

"It's hard to walk with these shoes," Haruhi grumbled but as the taps of high heels gradually grew softer, I knew Haruhi went to go complete her mission.

"Oh Hiroki~" the twins sang.

"You come in here, I will roundhouse kick you in the face," I threatened them and sat back on the floor.

"Are you decent, Hiroki?" Kyoya asked.

"Well, yes, but-"

The curtains opened and I was tackled by Tamaki, who was near tears.

"Why didn't you tell me I had another daughter!" Tamaki blubbered. "Why is everyone keeping secrets from Dad?"

"Um, I didn't tell anyone, so will you kindly please get off so I can ROUNDHOUSE KICK YOU TO THE FACE!" I screamed.

Tamaki shrieked and hid behind Kyoya. I sat up again and looked at the three boys who knew.

"So, what gave me away?" I asked.

"Did you know you put barely put more emphasis on your hips than all the other hosts?" Kyoya asked, smirking at how he used my own words against me.

"Okay, so I need to work on that . . . Mori-senpai, how'd you know?" I asked the stoic giant.

"It didn't feel right carrying you," he said, looking away a little.

"Right . . . and Honey-senpai?" I asked.

"You really don't remember me, Hiro-chan? My father helped train you," Honey-senpai giggled.

"Wait, you were trained by the Haninozuka's?" the twins asked, suddenly becoming all that much more interested in me.

"Um yeah, sort of, but I don't remember Honey-senpai being there, just his father," I said, pushed the twins away when they were leaning too close. "What did I say about personal space?"

"I would sometimes watch you from outside the dojo with my younger brother," Honey-senpai said.

"Hm . . . huh, yeah, that's right. I remember now," I said with a smile. "Man, maybe I should get back into martial arts-"

"I hate to ruin this tender moment, but don't have much time until midnight," Kyoya said, looking at his watch and Tamaki ran off to go check on Haruhi. "I suggest everyone get into position."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the twins and I saluted Kyoya and all of us ran back to the large hall. The twins went over to their laptop to prepare the Christmas tree and the rest of us lingered by the window. Mori-senpai held Honey-senpai in his arms so he could get a better look of the tree and Kasugazaki-san and Suzushima-san. Kyoya looked at his watch and I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. The girls began to crowd around the windows as well.

5

4

3

2

1

The courtyard burst into life as the twins lit up the Christmas tree. The girls then began to ask their hosts for a dance, and would you know it, Keiko wasn't the only girl interested in seeing what I was like. They were all more fascinated by my hair more than my scars and that couldn't make me happier. There were people who were interested about who I was, not what happened to me. They wanted to know my likes, dislikes, what kind of cake I liked, the works. I was a little sad that Haruhi couldn't join in because she sprained her ankle and when the twins announced the last event of the night.

"This will be given to Miyako-hime, the top point getter. A blessing kiss from the king . . ." the twins said, but it sounded like they were going to change it and end up crushing Tamaki or making him mad. "Modified . . . to Fujioka, Haruhi!"

A spotlight shown on where Haruhi was sitting and the girls gasped and cheered for Miyako-hime. As I predicted, Tamaki rounded on the twins, demanding an answer out of them.

"It's all because Kyoya-senpai said if we have an accident at the end, the party would be more fun," the twins explained with a sly grin and shrugged. "We just did what we were told."

"How about doing this instead of the dance?" Kyoya suggested, leaning close to Haruhi's ear. "We'll cutoff your debt by 1/3."

And like that, Haruhi got up to kiss Miyako-hime on the cheek. Good for Haruhi, this way she gets her debt cut way down in one go.

". . . Isn't this her first kiss-"

I quickly placed a hand over Honey-senpai's mouth, urging him to keep quiet, but Tamaki heard him quite well and jumped into action. Sighing, I took my hand away from Honey-senpai's face and he smiled innocently at me, like he had no idea what he just did. Oh, he knew what he was doing, I'm positive of it.

"Hold that kiss!" Tamaki yelled.

Tamaki accidentally tripped and pushed Haruhi, making her give Miyako-hime a full kiss on the lips. The twins grinned and snickered and even though I "tried" to stop it, I ended up laughing at the accident. The girls began to congratulate Miyako-hime on the kiss and gossip about Tamaki wanting to give the kiss and how he tried to stop it from happening. And, Haruhi believed it and was currently giving Tamaki the cold shoulder.

"Man, this is the best Christmas Eve to Christmas party I've ever been to!" I chuckled.

"Do you want some cake, Hiro-chan?" Honey-senpai asked, holding up a slice of strawberry cake.

I smiled and nodded. "I'd love a piece of cake, Honey-senpai."

* * *

**Hi, is'a me, Gabby~**

**I decided to put this chapter out sooner than expected because reasons. We got a glimpse of Hiroki's home life and what her family is like despite being rich, noble people. **

**I don't know when I'll put out the next chapter, but I'll try and do it in two weeks. So, I hope you enjoyed and if you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to leave a message.**

**Toodles~**


	3. Chapter 3

Christmas, like every year, was fun. My dad and Tao flew in early in the morning from America just celebrate with Mom, Kuro, and I. Although my family was wary around me for a good portion of the morning because of the lack of sleep from the ball, they realized I was too hyped up on Christmas cheer to be a grump. Mom and Dad bought me a ridiculously long scarf (22ft) with ugly 70's colors after I mentioned seeing a scarf online and wanting to buy it. It wasn't going to stop me from wearing it though, oh no. It was love at first sight.

Tao sewed (his only other talent) me together clothes from one of my most favorite childhood cartoons that I still watch to this day: Xiaolin Showdown. He basically made a whole new wardrobe, making the boys and Kimiko's uniforms, their casual clothes outside of the Xiaolin temple (I got a lot of Kimiko's outfits), and each of their armor they received from Master Fung in season two. He even added in a plush dojo, Raimundo's medallion necklace, some wigs to go with Kimiko's outfits, and Clay's cowboy hat. It must've taken him months to make all these wondrous outfits.

Kuro was the last to give his present to me. Thankfully, it wasn't clothes because I'm not sure I could possibly fit anymore in my closet. My eldest brother gave me a butt load of books and video games to add to my growing collection. The video games were horror themed, which I loved to play at night in the dark with him or Tao, and the books were sappy magical/paranormal romances that would without a doubt make me feel giddy and girly and give me hope that, hey, maybe someone will settle down with a freak like me. They were such two opposite things that I wondered where my liking for sappy romance books and horror games came from.

Sadly, after Christmas was over, I was thrown back into the life of a host back at Ouran. I've only been able to host a few times since returning from Christmas, but the girls thought I was doing a fine job of it. Still, I wasn't prepared for when the host club decided to dress up and decorate the music room with rice paper walls, fancy plants in equally fancy vases, and have the twins attack me when I wasn't paying attention.

"Hiroki-kun, you look so cute in your kimono," Keiko cooed, my two other customers nodding in agreement.

The twins forced me into a kimono designed by their mother. It was mainly grey with peach-colored intricate accents starting heavy at the bottom of my sleeves and kimono and slowly fading as it made it's way up. The coat I wore over the kimono was reversed, it mainly being peach with grey designs, made a three-foot train and covered my hands. The twins also decided to play with my newly dyed hair by putting in a light pink hair clip with grey ribbons dangling from it. Yeah, Mom did re-dye it with Tao's help. I guess you could say I'm . . . peachy keen.

"Thank you so much," I grinned at them. "I thought the twins might've gone overboard with the pink but if you beauties like it, then I guess they did a good job."

"Oh, I don't think anything could look bad on you, Hiroki-kun," Kaori, a long, black haired girl with large, circular glasses, said bashfully.

"Well thank you very much, Kaori-hime!" I said cheerfully.

"Hiro-chan! Haru-chan!" I heard Honey-senpai cry.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back," I bowed quickly before running off to Honey-senpai, who was in tears, holding up one of his sandals. He was surrounded by his fangirls, each looking devastated and heartbroken for the boy. "I lost one of my straw sandals . . ."

"Where did you drop it?" Haruhi asked, approaching us.

"Ah, don't worry, Honey-senpai! We'll find it!" I cheered.

"Yes! Please don't cry, Honey-kun! We'll help you find it!" his customers said when Honey-senpai began to tear up even more.

Mori-senpai suddenly popped up out of nowhere, holding the missing sandal. He got down on one knee and slipped it onto Honey-senpai's foot. The whole scene reminded me of Cinderella and made me take a mental note to watch that when I got home.

"Takashi . . ." Honey-senpai mumbled.

The tall host stood up and pointed in a direction, saying "it was over there."

"Takashi!" Honey-senpai cried and clung to his friend

"Looks like you saved the day there, Mori-senpai!" I said and patted his on the shoulder.

The corner of his lip twitched upward ever so slightly. Still grinning, I walked over to Haruhi, who accidentally bumped into one of the twins. I noticed something fell from it sleeve, so I bent down to pick it up. My grin turned into a crooked smile when I saw what it was. Haruhi looked as well and deadpanned. Well, it would definitely explain why it seems like so many of the guys are busting into tears today.

"Dude, this is so weak-"

"You-"

Each twin came up behind us and covered our mouths so as not to expose their secret.

"Okay, okay, be quiet," Haruhi's twin, Hikaru maybe, said. "Tell you the truth; this is common knowledge among hosts."

"Here you go," Kaoru released me and pulled out two fancy looking tea cakes that, frankly, I don't like. Never have and never will like tea cake. "Some high-class Japanese tea cakes that commoners would never be able to buy!"

"Who will fall for that trap," Haruhi scoffed.

"You do realize I'm filthy rich too, right? Besides, I don't like tea cake," I scrunched up my nose and gave him the tea cake back. "You'll have to do better than that to keep this mouth sealed."

"How about we let you keep the kimono?" Kaoru suggested.

"As pretty as it is, I cannot take any more clothes at this point. How about you guys buy me lunch the rest of the week and we'll call it good," I said cheekily.

"Deal," they said in unison.

" . . . You'll give it to me?" Haruhi asked adorably, staring at the fancy tea cake.

"Oh, how cute," the twins and I cooed as Haruhi's fans came up.

"Haruhi, you like Japanese tea cakes?" one girl asked.

"No . . . I'm not into sweets very much, but," she then got this reminiscent look on her face, making her look cute and serene at the same time. "I was thinking that I might place this before the grave of my late mother as an offering."

I smiled softly at Haruhi's words. That was a nice thing to do. It was very touching, but the moment was kind of ruined when the other hosts gathered around and Tamaki, with tears in his eyes, began giving Haruhi more tea cakes.

"It's all yours," Tamaki said in his hosting voice, making the girls go crazy.

"What a way to ruin the moment," I muttered, sliding my hands in the other's sleeves, much like I had seen the twins do earlier.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a girl standing by the doorway, half hiding herself behind the door frame. The others saw her too and walked over.

"Aren't you a new face? What's wrong? Just come in," Kaoru said.

"Come!" Honey chorused.

"Hey! Be softer to the new guest!" Tamaki ordered then walked up to the new girl, putting on the host charm. He held out her hand to her and said, "here . . . Don't be scared, Princess. Welcome to the Ouran Host-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU FAKER!" she screamed, shoving him in the face and effectively knocking him away.

My interest was peaked. Just who was this girl?

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU'RE RECOGNIZED AS A PRINCE IN THIS CLUB! A PRINCE SHOULDN'T SPRINKLE HIS LOVE SO EASILY! IT MAKES GIRLS' HEARTS TREMBLE IF YOU SMILE WITH SORROW, BUT WHY DO YOU LOOK SO STUPID?! IT'S AS IF YOU'RE A LIGHT-HEADED NARCISSIST! USELESS! TOO ORDINARY!" the strange girl ranted, stepping out from behind the door frame and pointing at Tamaki. With each insult, he acted like he was struck by an arrow and even though this was highly amusing, I couldn't help but feel bad for Tamaki. Being attacked by a girl he didn't know because of how he was . . . I kind of go that feeling. "YOU'RE THE WORST!"

Tamaki screamed and . . . oh my god, he's such a nerd. He started falling in slow motion, which I'm entirely sure how he did it unless he has excellent control over his muscles.

"A new technique!" the twins said in awe.

"Can it be . . ." I looked over at the mumbling Kyoya. "You are . . ."

"Kyoya-sama!" the girl yelled with tears in her eyes. She ran up to him and hugged him by the waist. "I wanted to see you so badly . . . my only prince."

We all stared in shock at the sight before us. Never would I have thought Kyoya would allow a strange girl to hug him. In fact, I would have thought he could shoot lasers from his eyes before he would let a girl to hug him.

Everyone quickly changed back into their uniforms and stood around the girl who sat on a couch, listening to her story.

"Fiance? Kyoya-senpai?!" the twins exclaimed.

"Yes~ I'm Houshakuji, Rebge. I'll be in grade 10 class A tomorrow," she introduced herself with a pleasant smile, so unlike when we first met her. Renge had long dark blonde hair with a pink bow on top of her head. She wore the hideous yellow dress that was the school uniform for girls and sat like a lady.

Tamaki was sulking in a corner, acting like a child even though he's the father figure of the group.

"Looks like Tamaki's angry," I observed, resting my arm on Honey-senpai's shoulders since for once he wasn't on Mori-senpai's shoulders.

"All because Mom was hiding something from Dad," the twins finished for me.

"Whatever, but will you keep that couple status from now on?" Kyoya asked, more annoyed by the prospect of being called "mom" than worried for his friend.

Renge, who wasn't listening to our banter, was still gushing over Kyoya. "It was really love at first sight. Being affectionate to the backyard's plants, which nobody paid attention to . . . Kindly stretching his hand out to the injured kitty . . ."

" . . . I cannot imagine that at all," the twins and I said simultaneously, almost sick at the thought of Kyoya being so . . . nice! And charitable!

"Kyo-chan's so kind, right Hiro-chan?" Honey-senpai said with a cute expression, looking up at me.

"Uh, it must be the wrong person, Honey-senpai," I said.

"Wait, Hiroki! You should be more polite to Kyoya-senpai!" the twins warned.

"NO! My eyes are justice!" Renge yelled.

. . . What? What the hell does that mean?

"Kind to everyone, and never asks for anything i return! Loves the solitude, but actually hates the loneliness!" By this point, her words were making the rest of us go crazy. The twins and I were running around, so very confused as to how the hell she thought Kyoya was that nice, Haruhi looked like the spirit was sucked right out of her, even Mori-senpai was beginning to look confused. Mori-senpai, the emotionless one! "The throbbing love simulation game, you!" Renge pointed at Kyoya. "Who looks like Ichijo Miyabi-kun from 'Uki Doki Memorial'!"

We stopped, suddenly understanding everything now. She was a huge nerd, an otaku as Tamaki and the twins so kindly put it by looking horrified. Uki Doki Memorial . . . why does that sound so familiar.

"Oh! That dating sim game!" I exclaimed and all the hosts turned to me with a questioning look. "My older brother Tao was obsessed with that game and forced me to play it until I got all the different endings in some sort of hope I would stop playing horror games with him and Kuro. But now that I think about it, Kyoya does look a lot like one of the characters."

"I see. A girl with a lot of interest in characters. She replaces me with her favorite character, makes me her fiance, and gets lost in her wild fantasies," Kyoya said, stroking his chin in thought.

"Her wild fantasies? Isn't she your fiance?" Tamaki asked weakly.

"I don't remember affirming that fact even once," Kyoya said.

I frowned. "You still could have told us earlier so we didn't have heart attacks."

The twins nodded in agreement.

"From what I see from the report, you're managing everything in this club, Kyoya-sama?" Renge asked, looking excited.

"Yes. Kyo-chan is the store manager-san," Honey-senpai said, hugging his Usa-chan, a stuffed pink rabbit.

"That's because nobody else can take care of it as well as Kyoya can," I said, giving Kyoya a somewhat compliment.

"The store manager-sama! It suits him very well!" Renge gushed. "It was my dream to be a draw-girl for the store."

"We don't need one; we're a host club," Hikaru sighed.

"We're not a bakery," Kaoru added.

I popped up between the two. "Not to mention that's kind of a sad dream. I mean, you could be something like a musician or a doctor, but a draw-girl?" I shook my head.

"I've decided! At the same time I'll prepare to be a bride, I'll be an administrative assistant for the Host Club!" Renge said, completely ignoring us.

"Eeh, Kyoya," Tamaki coughed.

"She's the daughter of one of the important business partner of my family: Ootori family. Please take good care of her," Kyoya said with a cool smile, basically saying he wasn't going to deal with her or break her heart . . . yet.

"As you heard," Tamaki sighed with a smile.

"Haruhi, Hiroki!" Tamaki and the twins said, placing a hand on our shoulders.

"THIS IS PART OF YOUR HOST TRAINING, YOU TWO! FATHER WILL BE COLD-HEARTED!" Tamaki blubbered as everyone, including Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai, ran away from us.

"Erm . . ." Haruhi reached out to Kyoya, who had his back turned to us.

"Of course, if something goes wrong, your debt will be doubled. I'll make note of it," Kyoya said.

"Why do I have to be roped into this? Is this because I'm a you-know-what?" I whined, not wanting to say girl unless Renge was actually listening for once.

"Why else do you think you and Haruhi were chosen?" Kyoya asked, writing something in his notebook.

"I was hoping you would say we had the most patience out of everyone," I sighed.

* * *

"Haruhi-kun, Hiroki-kun," Renge said, mixing together her cookie dough ingredients with a whisk, She wore a flowery apron over her uniform and a matching bandana in her hair to keep it from falling into the mixture. "Should I put more sugar in the cream?"

"Ah, yes . . . How's the chocolate going?" Haruhi asked, wearing a plaid apron and bandana, wearing oven mitts as she went to put my batch of milk chocolate chip cookies in the oven.

"Everything's going fine. I'm melting them now," Renge said cheerfully, gesturing to the smoking pot.

"DON'T USE THE DIRECT FLAME!" Haruhi hollered. "It'll separate. That's very basic knowledge!"

"I got the cookies, you go take care of Renge," I said, wearing an apron and bandana with cute little animals all over it like chicks, kittens, puppies, lions, tanuki's, and mice.

Haruhi quickly handed me the tray and quickly walked over to Renge to fix the situation. I walked over to one of the ovens which happened to be close to the door and couldn't help but hear the hosts talking on the other side. They should be up in the Music room in a meeting or hosting or something, not spying on us!

"What a beautiful scene . . . very cute," Tamaki said almost wistfully.

"By the way, what's that process?" Kyoya asked.

"She said she'd make cookies for Kyo-chan~" Honey-senpai said, no doubt he probably looked adorable saying it.

"I'm sure she mistook the Host club with bakery or something . . . Poor Haruhi and Hiroki," one of the twins said, but didn't sound too sorry for us.

"Dummy! Are all your eyes knot-holes!" Tamaki yelled. "In the room which is full of sweet fragrance, cute cookies, which are just baked. And three female classmates, who are getting along very well." I don't think that's quite true. Did he miss the point when Renge started burning the chocolate and tried to use her bare hands to move the entirely metal pot? "Everything is well planned. This is one big project to make Haruhi and Kiroki realize they are girls!"

I slammed the door open, frightening the hosts and catching Renge and Haruhi's attention. "I knew it! You stupid little twat! I hate baking! I've only been dealing with this because I want the cookies!"

Renge walked up next to me, obviously annoyed by Tamaki. "You're too noisy, _fake king._"

"Now, you lot, get out of here so we can finish!" I yelled and they scurried off, dragging a sulking Tamaki with them.

Renge and I looked at each other then smiled and laughed. We went back to baking and Renge tried this time to not make anymore mistakes. She began asking us what to do with every step and as annoying as it was, at least she was trying. Maybe I could get along with this girl.

After our cookies were done baking, we wrapped them in cloths and walked back up to the music room, where Tamaki was still sulking. Renge skipped up to Kyoya, presenting to him her burnt cookies.

"Kyoya-sama~ I've learned how to make peasants' cookies from Haruhi-kun and Hiroki-kun~ It's Renge's first time to cook, so I wa a bit scared," Renge said, suddenly talking in third person.

"Well . . . the colors are okay," Kyoya said, trying to be nice to the girl. They were as black as his hair.

"I know, I'm bad at it!" Renge admitted as the twins, Honey-senpai, and Mori-senpai each took a cookie. Mori-senpai had the sense to not eat it. "But I'm sure . . . If it's Kyoya-sama, he'll say, 'anything you make is delicious,'" she said dreamily.

"Tastes nasty," Hikaru mumbled, the cookie hanging out of his mouth.

"What is this, a rock?" Kaoru asked, copying his twin.

"It doesn't taste good," Honey-senpai said sadly, tears in his eyes either from how bad it tastes or from being disappointed.

Renge got really defensive and, I swear to god, turned into Medusa. She started chasing them around, but I didn't dare look. I wasn't going to risk looking at her when she had snakes for hair. For all I know, if I did, I could turn into stone! That would be an awful way to die. What if you had a stupid look on your face when you were turned to stone? You'd be like that forever until you crumbled into dust.

Haruhi took a bite of her ginger cookie and I tried my chocolate chip cookie. Even though I hate baking, I'm pretty good at it. Mom said I needed a hobby as a kid and had me take cooking classes for kids. That, and ice skating classes, sewing classes, and language classes. On the bright side, I could speak Japanese, English, German, and French.

"Mine went pretty well . . . I haven't made snacks in a while, but," Haruhi trailed off, probably criticizing her cookie.

"Mine are pretty good, but definitely not for someone who doesn't like a lot of sweet things," I said, the cookie hanging out of my mouth and suddenly, Hikaru got in my face, his face resting on the back of my head. "Personal. Space."

"Getting rid of a bad taste," he said seductively and bit off most of my cookie.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Tamaki's head shoot up. So, that's what they're doing. Trying to get a rise out of "Dad".

"Ah. It tastes very good. Can you bake a next time?" Hikaru asked with a grin, taking a step back and ruffling my hair.

"Psh, there had to be a life on the line if you want me to bake again. Cooking, I don't mind as much, but I just can't stand baking," I said, folding my arms over my chest.

"Hey Haruhi," Kaoru said. "You got some cream on your face," and he liked it right off her cheek.

Tamaki shot up and began yelling obscenities at the twins, who grinned at his reaction. Haruhi didn't mind, just wiping the spit off and giving them an annoyed look. I couldn't help but chuckle at Haruhi's reaction.

"Anyhow, they're getting along very well with male classmates, don't they?" Kyoya observed, talking more to Tamaki than anyone really.

Hm, now that it was revealed that I was a girl, the twins have been nicer to me. Of course, they still throw an occasional ball of paper at my head and poke my side every now and then. But they've toned down the cruelness a lot ever since they found me sticking a hand down my shirt. Why though? Did they think that now I'm a girl in their eyes, I would get easily hurt or something by their actions or words? It's stupid if they think that.

"Kaoru, if you'd have just told me, I could clean it myself," Haruhi said.

"And if you wanted a cookie, just take one and don't steal mine," I grinned, acting like it was just an ordinary thing.

Tamaki got into our bubbles and started screaming, "YOU TWO! YOUR REACTIONS ARE WRONG! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO **REJECT** THEM, NOT LET THEM GO!"

"Please stop the sexual harassment, kissing machine senpai," Haruhi said, looking away from Tamaki.

I busted up laughing, falling from Tamaki's grip and onto the floor. He ignored me and continued to yell about the twins being criminals. Apparently, Haruhi still hasn't forgiven Tamaki for the Christmas incident. Who wouldn't? I'd probably still be pissed if I lost my first kiss to some chick because my senpai knocked into my back. But it's the way Haruhi looked and how serious she sounded that made me start laughing.

"Everyone's characteristics are very bad! Except Kyoya-sama," Renge yelled, getting us all to stop and look at her.

"You lack any negative aspects, and girls find that dreadfully dull! Girls are weak for beautiful men involved in trauma! Girls will be bored with your so-called dummy actions soon enough! Are you trying to make Kyoya-sama's store go bankrupt!" Renge yelled then pointed at Honey-senpai, who had tears in his eyes and was hugging Usa-chan very close to him. "We'll be renouncing your characters starting today! You first! Hacing cuteness outside and inside is the same as a toddlers! Thus, CHANGE IT TO 'HAVING A CUTE FACE, BUT ACTUALLY BEING A BEAST'!"

"NOOO!" Honey-senpai screamed and clung to the nearest person (me) and cried into their blazer.

"Morinozuka-senpai! Take care of Haninozuka-senpai by staying with him all the time! And dignify the speeches you make once in a while! Twins, suffer from the fact that people can't tell the difference between the two of you! And be in a basketball club! Haruhi-kun! You'll be a super poor honor student, but you're being bullied!"

She turned on me and Honey-senpai yelped and hid behind me. "Hiroki-kun! You received your scars from a horrible accident and even though you act happy all the time, you are angry at how useless you felt at the time and vowed to protect those who can't defend themselves no matter what!"

Holy shit. Holy shit, she's not that far off from the truth. It's either a really big coincidence or she's really good at reading people but doesn't quite know it yet. Either way, now that I'm deemed a hero with questionable morals (what am I, batman?), I can only sense gloom and doom for what Renge has in store for us.

"And you, Tamaki-san! Be an institute's idol, and people always compliment your appearance, but actually you have a huge inferiority complex. THE LONELY PRINCE!" Renge claimed, shocking Tamaki.

". . . it suits me very well . . ." Tamaki said after he came out of his shocked state.

"Kyoya-sama, you're perfect~ Please always be affectionate!" Renge said, turning sweeter than sugar once she faced Kyoya.

"My pleasure," was all Kyoya said.

"Kyoya-senpai . . . do something with that princess," the twins said.

"Well . . .? Haruhi and Hiroki's supposed to be taking care of her. And see," Kyoya said and pointed in the direction of Tamaki and Renge. Tamaki was posing dramatically, a look of anguish on his face and Renge was absolutely loving it.

"Renge-kun! Renge-kun! Does this look like a lonely pose?" Tamaki asked in a soft, sad voice.

"Wow! It's pretty nice, Tamaki-san! If it were raining, it would be even better!"

"Club president is in it," Kyoya finished. "Well, let's see. It should turn out to be pretty interesting."

"But I have to act like a guy, do you guys not understand that?" I sighed.

"No, because we never got around to interrogating you," the twins said, wrapping their arms around my shoulders and making a perfect Hiroki sandwich.

"Really? I thought I told you guys," I mumbled and went through my mind everything from the Christmas ball to now. "Huh, I guess I never did."

"Why do you have to be a boy, Hiro-chan?" Honey-senpai asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Well," I looked over at Renge and saw she wasn't paying attention. "My mom's kind of a worry wart and is afraid I'll die alone with fifty cats that each have a ridiculous name. So, she hired Madame Bellerose to find me some rich guy who won't run away at the sight of me. It hasn't been going so well, so she concocted a plan. The plan was I would attend Ouran as a boy and without my cover up so people will get to know me for who I am and when we have some potentials, we'd tell them my real gender and Madame Bellerose would work her magic from that point on."

"You know Belle-chan?" Honey-senpai asked, getting a smile on his face.

"Uh, yeah. You too?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, we all know her. Our parents tried to set us up or one of our relatives up at some point in our lives, but it never worked out," Kaoru said from my right then grinned. "She gave up on Hikaru and I a month in."

"I guess I'm just a special case," I shrugged.

"So Hiro-chan has to find a husband?" Honey-senpai asked.

"Ah, a guy who's willing to go on a date with me first," I said and patted Honey-senpai on the head. "We'll slowly work our way up to husband."

* * *

The next day after school, I was forced to go outside by Renge who had a brilliant idea. Make a movie starring us and our new characteristics. My first reaction to seeing the cameras was to hide my face with my hands. I had to stop when they began filming and I had to get into position. It started out with the twins playing basketball and Kaoru getting hurt. After a touchingly sad scene between the twins, they magically appeared outside in the rain where Tamaki approached them, telling them that he was envious of them for having one another to support them. Then it was Haruhi, Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai, and my turn.

We were outside in a little "forest" of trees, the faux raining showering over us. Haruhi sat at the base of a tree, watching in horror as Honey-senpai knocked me down to one knee.

"You can't save the poor bitch, scar face," Honey-senpai growled, his entire being void of any childishness. What I saw before me was a small man as cutthroat as can be. "You should've known what would happen when you went against me."

"Then I would gladly defy you a thousand times over than help you, you little bastard," I sneered, getting back to my feet shakily.

". . . Stop it, Mitsukuni," Mori-senpai said. "You're the one who suffers every time you hurt somebody else."

"Don't admonish me, Takashi, especially in front of trash like him," Honey-senpai said coldly and "kneed" me in the stomach. I made a sickening sound and hunched over but refused to step aside so he could have at it with Haruhi. "You want to be punished again?"

Honey-senpai looked at Haruhi coldly with a Kyoya-ish smile. "I hate somebody living beyond his or her means," Honey-senpai got in my face, a sneer overcoming the cold smile. "You disgust me, Ookubo. Get out of my way, Chelsea Smile."

Ouch, that kind of hurt. "Make me, you pint sized little bastard."

We glared at each other and what was supposed to happen next was a fight of epic proportions, but we couldn't do it. Instead, our tough guy facade dissolved. Honey-senpai got all teary eyed and jumped on me, wrapping his legs around my waist and his arms around my neck. I was also a little teary eyed and hugged my small senpai back just as tight.

"I'M VERY SORRY, HIRO-CHAN!" Honey cried, tears running down his face.

"I'M SORRY FOR CALLING YOU SUCH MEAN NAMES, HONEY-SENPAI!" I wailed. "I PROMISE NEVER TO DO IT AGAIN!"

"ME TOO!" Honey-senpai parroted.

"_**CUT! **_THERE! FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!" Renge screeched, turning into Medusa. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't just read it in such a bland manner! CAMERA! Stop filming for awhile! Rain! Be more painful!"

How can rain be painful!

We decided to take a break and watch the staff do their thing and Renge order them around.

"I heard she hired them from Hollywood," Kyoya said.

"When did it change from character reformation to a short film shoot?" Haruhi asked, drenched in rain.

"If I remember this correctly, this is actually pretty similar to one of the storylines of Uki Doki Memorial," I said, and set Honey-senpai down for a second before piggy backing him instead.

"Can it be 'Uki Memo live action!" the twins exclaimed.

A staff member came around and handed us towels to dry off with. Haruhi dabbed her face and Mori-senpai started drying mine and Honey-senpai's hair.

Hikaru sighed. "Why do we have to play basketball?"

"Look at this script. Shit," Kaoru insulted it as he flipped through it with an annoyed look.

Haruhi took the script and Mori-senpai, Honey-senpai, and I gathered around her to read the script.

"It appears as if Hikaru is leading the relationship, but in actuality Kaoru, being more mature spiritually, is the seme," I said after reading a few of their parts.

"It's true, so it's no use!" the twins exclaimed. "There's no point in changing our characters!"

"Eeeeh, really!" Honey asked.

"What does 'seme' mean?" Haruhi asked innocently.

I patted her on the head. "If you don't know, then it's probably best we keep it that way. 'Sides, I don't want Tamaki come yelling at me if he finds out what I told you."

"Haruhi!" Tamaki yelled, running over while loosening his tie. "How was my acting?"

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," I whispered under my breath. "Is it okay if I set you down, Honey-senpai, and dry off?"

"No problem, Hiro-chan! And you don't have to all us senpai," Honey-senpai grinned and hopped off my back.

"What? So I just call you Honey and Mori or Mitsukuni and Takashi?" I asked and used my towel to thoroughly dry my hair.

"Whatever you want!" Honey-senpai said and started drying off with his towel.

"Hey, let's play a game!" the twins suggested, a mischievous smile on their faces.

"What kind of game?" I asked curiously.

They grinned and repositioned the towel on Honey's head so he looked like Little Red Riding Hood and mine so I looked like an old lady. Honey and I looked at each other and laughed.

"Looks good on you," the twins laughed.

"Haruhi-kun, Hiroki-kun, can you help me for a bit?" Renge called for us.

I sighed and tied my towel around Honey's neck, adding on to the cloak look. "Welp, I gotta get back to work before the boss lady starts yelling again.

"Bye-bye!" the twins and Honey said and waved me off.

"Yes? What is it?" Haruhi asked as we turned the corner.

"I'd like those people to be in the film too~" Renge said and gestured to two very intimidating looking Ouran boys. I see them in the halls from time to time. They're class D students who come from yakuza families.

"Huh? What's the matter scholarship student?" the boy with shorter hair and ear piercings asked.

I looked down at Haruhi and saw she had that nervous smile on her face she gets when she doesn't really know what to do in a situation.

"Eh, don't sweat it, guys. He's just had a long day," I said with a shrug.

"There should always be bad guys in the climax! The club members unite upon being hurt by true villains! THEY'RE JUST THE MEN FOR THAT POSITION!" Renge yelled passionately.

"What? What is it!" the other boy yelled.

"This girl is so cruel!" the short haired boy exclaimed, the both of them genuinely hurt by her words.

"Wait, Renge-chan," Haruhi began, noticing the boys as well.

"The story ends wonderfully when the villains reform themselves after Kyoya-sama's touching line!" Renge was off in her own little world again.

"Renge, you can't just-well, how do I put this?" I questioned myself. "Renge, you can't just see what's on the outside. If you only see what's on the outside, you miss out on so much, don't you think?"

"I don't quite understand what you're talking about," Renge confessed then grabbed the longer haired boy by the arm and began to drag him. "Well, anyway, please come and stand by-"

"Asshole! Don't just whatever you want!" he yelled and shoved Reng away. "Don't act so big-headed just because you're from class A!"

"Watch out!" Haruhi yelled when she was headed for a structure that held the fresnel lights they used throughout the shooting.

I gasped when Haruhi ducked behind Renge to catch her, landing harsh against the metal structure. She was hunched over, holding her shoulder that took the brunt of the force.

"He-Haruhi-kun! Are . . . you okay?" Renge asked, kneeling next to Haruhi.

"I'm all-ouch!" Haruhi flinched when she moved.

I quickly turned on the class D boys and gave them a glare that would make the devil himself cower with fear. Before they could get the chance to run away, I snatched them by the backs of their jackets and threw them to the ground on their knees. I ignored their looks of fear, I ignored their pleas for mercy when I stood over them both. All I focused on was the fact that Haruhi was hurt and these two were the source of that pain.

"You boys have pissed me off and I have no mercy for those dare harm my friends," I growled lowly and punched them across the face.

"Haruhi! What was it just now . . .?" Tamaki came running around the corner and the boys standing at my feet cowered even more.

"Don't pay attention to him ,pay attention to me!" I roared and grabbing the long haired class D boy by his collar and jerking him upwards. "You hurt my friend Haruhi and-"

Tamaki interrupted my speech and punched the guy I was holding across the face. Tamaki ripped him from my grasp and shoved him against the wall and got in his face.

"Who did it?" Tamaki asked in a cool, threatening voice.

"We-we didn't mean . . . to . . ." he stuttered in fear.

"Would you like to be expelled together?" Tamaki threatened him.

"Wait, you started the quarrel first . . ." the short haired boy tried to defend his friend then saw Mori-senpai standing behind him.

Growling, I grabbed him by his tie. "_Bull-__**fucking**__-shit!_ You two were the idiots who started it with the shove! If you had just stood your fucking ground and told her no, this wouldn't be happening."

"Teacher, this way-there-re scary class D people," the twins yelled for a teacher.

Annoyed by the prospect of a teacher coming, I let him go. He immediately grabbed his friend from Tamaki and ran off. Tamaki andI ran over to Haruhi, who I noticed had tears leaking from her eye that wasn't covered by her hair.

"Haruhi," Tamaki said urgently and cupped her cheeks.

"Are you okay, Haruhi? Is your shoulder in pain?" I asked gently.

"It . . . hurts . . ." she mumbled, rubbing her eye. "My contact lenses . . . moved . . ."

All that anger inside me washed away. Instead, I felt like an idiot for punching the class D boys. I felt like an idiot for over reacting. Haruhi held out her hand and her contact and in her palm. THis bubbling sensation started in my stomach and make it's way up my throat and in my mouth, where I began laughing.

"Ca . . . Camera! Did you get that just now?" Renge yelled, turning to the camera and audio crew who gave her a thumbs up. "This is it! It's perfect! Now, only thing we need is Kyoya-sama's touching-"

Kyoya slammed a rock against the camera's lense, shattering it. I'm surprised he didn't cut himself doing so. The camera operator freaked out over his camera and how it was busted now. I would be upset to. I've looked up how much those camera's cost and it's a lot. It ranges from $40,00 to $66,000.

"Kyo-Kyoya-sama," Renge stuttered, baffled by his sudden change of character.

"I'm very sorry, but we cannot leave any evidence of the club members' violent acts. And it's very unpleasant of you causing this kind of trouble," Kyoya said cooly, still holding the rock in his hand.

"Why? Kyoya-sama, you should have said, 'don't worry about it . . .' and pat my head gently . . . If it's Kyoya-sama . . ." Renge cried, tears streaming down her face.

"But, that's not the _real_ Kyoya," Tamaki said.

"Well, it's okay, actually. It was rather fun," Hikaru admitted with a shrug.

"Right!" Honey said, climbing onto Mori's back.

"There're various reasons to fall in love," Kaoru said.

Haruhi and I crouched in front of Renge to have a girl-to-girl talk.

"I think it's fun to know the person little by little through looking at their personality," Haruhi said with a smile.

"Like when we were baking cookies. You learned I hate baking and we learned you're a very dedicated woman," I added with a grin.

Her tears were reduced and we helped her stand up. "I'm sorry . . . for causing trouble."

A few days later, everything was back to normal and we were hosting again. I told my customers all about the trials and tribulations of baking and acting, from burning your fingers with a hot tray to getting soaking wet from the fake rain. They ate it up and kept asking about what I was like, how my character was. But I would bring up a different subject and they would forget. Unfortunately, the same tactic didn't work on Kuro and Tao. Tao was still around. He and Dad didn't have to leave for America for a couple more weeks, so they were happy to intrude on my life as well.

"She seriously had you guys standing in the rain?" Tao asked as he combed my hair with his skinny tan fingers.

The light from the laptop illuminated Tao's dyed white hair and tan skin. Instead of dressing fancy like he usually does, he was wearing a purple knitted sweater that was far too big for him and ratty old grey sweatpants. Kuro wasn't wearing a shirt but had on pajama pants with Slenderman on them. His brown, almost black, hair was messier than usual from switching back and forth from lying his head on a pillow to holding his head up with his hand. I, for once, wasn't wearing my chest binder and wore a black tank top with camouflage boxer shorts. Kuro, Tao, and I were sitting on my large bed in the semi-darkness. In front of us was my laptop and Kuro took over to play Outlast when Tao started playing with my hair.

"Yeah. It sucked and it was _really_ cheesey. We had to stop a lot 'cause Honey and I had a hard time calling each other names," I said and Kuro screamed when a character popped up out of nowhere, grabbed him, and threw him off the second floor. "God, you're such a baby."

"Hey, I'm the oldest! You should treat me with more respect," Kuro said then flinched when he saw a priest looking man do something to his character.

"No, she's right, brother dearest. Just last night you were begging to sleep at the foot of my bed because you watched Cabin in the Woods," Tao said with a smirk and made tiny braids in my hair.

"You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!" Kuro yelled and lunged at Tao, tackling him onto the bed.

I giggled at them and continued playing for Kuro. "I'm just glad the footage in the camera was damaged so Renge and her crew can't pull some sort of miracle and actually make the movie with what we got. And please stop choking Tao, Kuro. Mom and Dad will be awfully sore with you if you end up killing him."

"Yes, listen to Hiki!" Tao choked and I scowled.

"I told you to stop calling me that! It sounds too much like hickey!" I yelled and joined Kuro in torturing our brother.

The next day, classes went on like normal, but I couldn't help but hear more whispers about the host club today than usual. It wasn't until we went to the club after school did we find out.

"Tamaki-sama!"

Hikaru-kun! Kaoru-kun!"

"Haruhi-kuuun~"

"Oh Hiroki-kun!"

"Hello, welcome," Tamaki greeted them from a couch. We were all standing around the couch with welcoming smiles.

"We bought the video!" announced the girls.

. . . What?

"The scene in the rain is the best!"

"I was blown away by Hikaru-ku and Kaoru-kun's deep relationship!"

"I want to see Honey-kun's evil side!"

"Wasn't Hiroki-kun amazing when he stood up to Honey-kun?"

". . . Kyoya," Tamaki said, not looking towards the Ootori boy.

"Do you think I'm such a idiot as to break the camera without taking the data? The sales are going just fine. Of course, the violent scenes have been edited," Kyoya said, not looking at Tamaki as he wrote away in his notebook. "Aren't you happy to have more money for the club?"

I should have knocked on wood. I _really_ should have knocked on wood.

"I finally realized," Renge approached Haruhi and I and took our hands.  
The kindness to protect me that time with all your might . . . the depth of your love admonishing me occasionally. This is what you two meant by fall in love with the person little by little, through looking at their personality, isn't it? Haruhi-kun~ Hiroki-kun~"

"Uhh," I didn't even know how to respond to her.

"Here, let's go to my place and play games all night long! You need get to know me as well!" Renge said and began dragging us out of the club.

"Wait! I won't forgive you for this!" Tamaki yelled, trying to stop her.

"Get away, moron!" Renge hissed.

"B-But you can't have both of us!" I piped in. "So, I suggest you take Haruhi instead."

"Hiroki!" Haruhi said sternly.

"I know I can't have the both of you . . . but I hope we can become the best of friends, Hiroki-kun, despite your feelings for me!" Renge said cheerfully and continued to drag us away.

. . . I think I was friend-zoned by a girl I don't know all that well.

* * *

**EXTRA**

Everything stopped. No one dared to breathe. We could only watch in horror at what had been done.

"We . . . we've done it," Tamaki breathed.

The tea on the table spilled, soaking poor Usa-chan. Honey was currently sleeping on the couch, taking his daily nap. The twins had been chasing Haruhi around and in the process, accidentally knocked Tamaki into the table, spilling the tea onto the table. I had nothing to do with the situation. I was just hanging around Mori and Kyoya, discussing ideas of our next cosplay day with Mr. Manager.

"Tono spilled it!" the twins immediately put the blame on him.

"You fool! You ran into me!" Tamaki countered.

"That;s because Haruhi tried to run away from us. We were going to dress her in female attire," Hikaru said and he and Kaoru hugged Haruhi.

"Female attire," Tamaki deadpanned.

"Don't you wanna see it? Tono~" the twins said.

"I . . . actually feel insulted they didn't chase me around," I said, surprising myself more than the others. I looked up at Mori-senpai. "Am I not pretty enough for them to torture?"

He looked like he didn't know how to answer my question but he didn't have to, because Tamaki started to scream . . . again.

"I WANT TO SEE IT, BUT NOT UNDER THIS CIRCUMSTANCE! FOOLS! WHY ARE YOU HUGGING HER IN A MOMENT LIKE THIS-"

"We don't have any guests yet, so you can be as noisy as you want, but is it okay? Honey-senpai will wake up," Kyoya said, pausing Tamaki from killing the twins.

The three quickly ducked behind a couch, but Haruhi didn't. In fact, she walked up to the sleeping blonde to wake him up.

"We can't do anything about it, can we? Just wake him up and apologize," Haruhi said.

"Wait up! Don't get close to Honey-senpai! Take refuge in here!" Tamaki and the twins whispered/yelled but ended up dragging her to their pathetic hiding spot anyway.

"Listen up. This may only be a legend . . . But Honey-senpai is said to be in a _very_ bad mood when he wakes up," Tamaki whispered to her.

"I've never seen him like that before," Haruhi mentioned.

"Even if his mood was good until now, that doesn't mean today will be the same! On top of that, I heard this rabbit was hand-created by senpai's favorite late grandma!" Tamaki whispered/yelled, only sounding more panicked as he went on.

"That's actually true!" I piped up, popping from behind the club president.

"How do you know?" Haruhi asked.

"Oh, I have Honey's number. We talk all the time. We invite Mori to our text talks but he doesn't join us as much," I shrugged, pulling put my phone and showing them my last conversation with Honey, which was on the topic of visiting this small bakery in town that I heard was really good.

"What if he sees what his Usa-chan turned into a totally different creature when he just wakes up," Tamaki pondered.

"We'll be the ones who'll turn into the totally different creatures!" Tamaki and the twins yelled.

"Legend and rumor," Haruhi dismissed it.

"I firmly believe my theory. Don't you remember senpai's act on the 'Renge Incident'?" Tamaki questioned.

"That was so real," Hikaru nodded his head.

"Nobody can make that expression as good as that, unless he already has some kind of foundation," Kaoru also nodded his head.

"And the most important fact!" Tamaki got in close to Haruhi's face. "Honey-senpai is blood type AB!"

"Meaning," the twins continued. "Same as Kyoya-senpai!"

Apparently that last little tidbit was all it took to convince Haruhi.

"Don't you think that'll hurt my feelings?" Kyoya asked monotonously.

Honey rolled over in his sleep, making my classmates and Tamaki freeze up.

"Not good. We should do something before he wakes up . . . Hikaru! Kaoru!" Tamaki snapped his fingers.

"Yes sir!" the twins saluted him.

"Go get your family's private sesuna! Fly to Mt. Osore and ask Itako to come! We'll ask Honey-senpai's Grandma to come out and make a new Usa-chan!" Tamaki ordered, stepping up to a new level of idiotic plans.

"We don't have that much time. Are you dumb?" Hikaru asked.

"It's okay for you to get confused, but please say something more constructive," Kaoru said.

"Grr . . . Let's do this instead! We'll take Usa-chan to dry clean, and in the mean time, Haruhi! Hiroki!" Tamaki ordered.

I jumped to my feet, eager to help out. But I quickly became confused when Tamaki was holding a giant Usa-chan costume. "Haruhi, wear this costume. Hiroki, make sure Usa-chan is safely delivered to the dry cleaners."

"What a nice idea!" the twins said, more about dressing up Haruhi, and gave Tamaki a thumbs up.

"WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? I MEAN, IT'S TOO OBVIOUS!" Haruhi screamed, trying to run away but Tamaki held onto her shoulder.

"It's all right! He'll be a sleepy head, so he wouldn't notice the size difference!" Tamaki yelled.

"Then why don't _you_ wear it, senpai? Or have Hiroki-chan wear it!" Haruhi yelled.

"It won't be cute if _I'm _in it! And the smaller we go, the better!" Tamaki countered.

I chose to stand by Mori and read over his shoulder, not wanting help anymore once it became a thing about dressing up Haruhi. The only person who ever likes me ever enough to dress me up against my will not on special occasions is Mom, Dad, Kuro, and Tao. I guess I haven't been part of the club long enough for them to torture me with dress up.

Honey-senpai sat up, rubbing his eyes, awake but still sleepy from his nap. They already managed to shove Haruhi in most of the costume, but they wasn't fast enough.

"Oh my god, we won't make it!" Tamaki cried, looking over his shoulder at the older boy. "Fine, substitute strategy number 2!"

When Honey opened his eyes at last, he saw Kuma-chan, Tamaki's bear, sitting on his lap. The twins were snickering at the fact Tamaki had Kuma-chan with him and poor Haruhi was running into walls because she couldn't see with the costume on. Honey stared at Kuma-chan a little bit longer before throwing the offending bear to the ground.

"_**MY KUMA-CHAN!**_" Tamaki screeched while the twins just screamed in fear.

Honey stood up, wearing pajamas and dragging his blanket behind him. He was headed straight for Usa-chan.

"WHAT DO WE DO! IT'LL BE OUR TURN SOON!" Tamaki screamed.

"WAH! HE FOUND USA-CHAN!" the twins screamed.

Honey picked up Usa-chan. Tea was dripping from the soaked rabbit.

". . . My Usa-chan . . ." he looked in our direction but I made the choice to look away. Like with Medusa-Renge, I wasn't going to risk my life by looking at him. "**Who dirtied it?**"

The screamed in fear.

"MORI-SENPAI! HIROKI! HELP US!" Kaoru screamed.

Mori stood up and we walked up to Honey.

"We were having a tea party," I said with a shrug.

" . . . Usa-chan really wanted to have a cup of tea," Mori finished.

The world froze and the three idiots watched intensely. Haruhi, now free from her pink, bunny prison, watched with could actually see Honey morph back into the childish senpai we knew and love.

"I see! _That's_ why his face got dirty, huh?" Honey said, holding Usa-chan closer to him. "Do you think he'll eat cake too?"

"Probably," Mori said.

"But first, lets clean up Usa-chan!" I said cheerfully and the three of us walked into the kitchenette. I couldn't help but overhear Haruhi's comment and smirk at it.

"Honey-senpai is scary when he just wakes up, but Mori-senpai and Hiroki-chan wheedling Honey-senpai is even scarier."

* * *

**Hi, is'a me, Gabby~**

**I decided to include any extras/omake theaters that might be in a chapter. **

**So I hoped you enjoyed this chapter of Smiley Faces and Hiroki's interactions with the hosts and her brothers. Tao and Kuro (but mostly Kuro) will crash some hosting days and trips even though they're adults and should have their own lives by now, so expect some more of them in the future. **

**Until next time!**

**Toodles~**


	4. Chapter 4

"Tao, please, I'm fine-You just got there! There's no need to come back!" I yelled into my phone while changing into my new cosplay. It was another kimono, but much less flashy than the New Years kimono. It was plain with few layers and the most interesting thing about my kimono was the haori, which was a dark maroon color. The hakama was striped and was pretty bland.

"Trust me, Tao. Nothing will go wrong, I swear. I have to go. Do you know how hard it is dressing with one hand? Okay, love you too bro, bye," I hung up and finished dressing in my outfit.

Tao went back to America not too long ago and has been calling me nearly everyday now that he knows I'm in a Host club. I mentioned that physical exams were coming up and he began freaking out. He actually started planning to come back, pretend to be a doctor, sneak into the school, and rescue me. So I had to reassure him I had a back up plan. But that's the problem. I don't have one. And physical exams are coming up hella fast.

I stepped out of the changing room to see my kimono buddies waiting for me. Honey, Mori, Haruhi, and I were in kimonos while Kyoya, Tamaki, and the twins dressed up as waiters. Tamaki tried to explain to me how it relates to spring, but I didn't get it. Well, I just blanked him out really while trying to come up with a plan for myself.

"Was it Tao-chan again?" Honey asked as we walked outside to the Ouran Academy gardens.

"Yeah, he's just checking up on me," I grinned.

"Tao is the make up artist, right?" Haruhi asked.

"Yes, and Kuro is the one who doesn't live too far away," I said as we stepped out into the gardens.

We all sat on the same blanket like Kyoya told us to. Apparently Haruhi and I didn't have a lot of customers today so Kyoya decided to group us with Honey and Mori. The first two customers were Honey's and he decided to make tea for them with the mortar and pestle that was lying on the blanket when we got there. But we noticed Honey was getting really into the tea ceremony, making us all wonder if we should tell him he was spilling too much onto the blanket.

"Mitsukuni," Mori spoke and leaned closer to Honey. "Too much potion is lost already."

Oh shit, he said it, He said it!

Honey looked down and saw there was only a little bit left. He began to tear up, so Mori and the girls jumped into action. Mori offered him dango while the girls took the small bowl.

"Honey-kun, we'll have it!" the short haired girl declared.

"Yes! I really only wanted to have this much of tea!" her friend yelled.

"Really?" Honey asked, getting happy again.

". . . Please excuse me to the bathroom," Haruhi said monotonously and left.

I chuckled. "I think I'll go with Haruhi. Y'know, buddy system and what not."

Really, I only left because I wanted to stretch my legs. The weather was nice and I liked moving around when it was nice out. It was also perfect time to plot how to save my ass. I sat under a large tree that was in full bloom and closed my eyes.

Okay, maybe I could convince the doctor I had chest surgery to fix my lungs and I had to wear a binder 'cause my stitches weren't fully healed and it was to keep my organs from falling out. Or I have an embarrassing birthmark that I only hide with a binder because it's harder to pull off? Or maybe I could call in a family doctor and disguise them as an Ouran doctor and take my physical exam with them.

My thoughts were interrupted by Tamaki, who was sulking right next to me.

"Hey Tamaki, what's up?" I asked.

He just pointed behind his shoulder at the twins hogging Haruhi. I got up and walked over in an attempt to save my only female friend when Kaoru wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"Let's take the same electives!" Kaoru said loudly just so Tamaki could hear.

"We're in the same class after all," Hikaru and Kaoru said evilly, looking over their shoulders at Tamaki.

Haruhi held a list in her hands of the electives available to us and I read over them. Hikaru pointed to conversational French, which I declined since I'm already fluent in the language and hated the idea of sitting through a class in which they taught me stuff I already knew. We would each point something out and at least one person would have something bad to say about it, so we decided to split up. Kaoru and Haruhi would take English together since it was one of their favorite subjects and Hikaru and I would take an art class together. Then all four of us would take the essentials for graduation together.

"Mommy?" I heard Tamaki ask.

". . . What is it, Daddy?" Kyoya asked, for once playing along with the silly names.

"This is only a hypothesis, but . . . I always thought I'm with Haruhi and therefore Hiroki all the time, but that was just an illusion caused by having so many club activity scenes. So can it be . . . twins, for being in the same class as Haruhi and Hiroki, know about them loads more than I do? Argh, it's horrifying even saying it aloud," Tamaki said like it was acid on his tongue.

"Ah, about that matter, I have picture evidence here," Kyoya said and pulled out one of the photo albums he was trying to sell earlier and flipped to a page where it had a picture Haruhi sitting between the twins in class who were obviously talking to her and the next page showing the twins and I passing notes in the middle of class. "They spend 9 hours a day together while they're at school, but your time with Haruhi and Hiroki is only two hours, while you're in club. Even Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai spend more time with Hiroki by eating lunch with her on occasion. If you subtract the time when you're accompanying your customers, that's merely an hour."

"In other words, I can only spend 3% of Haruhi and Hiroki's life with them in a year!"Tamaki cried out, in denial about the facts. he turned to the four of us, suddenly holding a (fake) sword. "YOU BASTARD! STAND THERE!"

". . . Maybe Tamaki should get out of the sun," I said.

"Yeah, I think his brain is . . ." Haruhi trailed off, trying to find a nice way of putting it.

"He's into Japanese traditional play lately," Hikaru shrugged, like it explained everything.

Tamaki suddenly tore us away from the twins and held the both of us close to him. "You cannot hang out with these guys! You must return to your true form and live happily with your girl friends, and that's my wish as a father! HERE, GO BACK, GO NOW!"

The idiot president was trying to get us to reveal ourselves as girls. Apparently he forgot about physical exam day is coming up very soon.

"Get off of me, Tamaki!" I yelled, trying to escape his grip. "Don't make me use my martial arts training on you!"

". . . Well, we don't have to rush the matter. Anyway, we'll soon have-"

"Ha-ru-chan! Hi-ro-chan!" Honey sang, interrupting Kyoya and saving us from Tamaki. "When is your class's physical examination day? Let's compare our heights!"

They froze, even Honey who asked the question, when they realized we would have to take our shirts off for the exam. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.

"I was actually trying to come up with a plan for that, but I'm afraid my hands are tied," I said. "It's why Tao has been calling me a lot more these past few days."

"That is not good then. We'll definitely be found out," Haruhi said more to me.

We closed up early after the news hit the hosts hard. I decided to walk home to think of a plan. Now that the hosts are aware of mine and Haruhi's predicament, perhaps they could also help concoct a plan. Mom sensed I was in a funk and decided to leave me alone instead of pester me about the Host club. Usually she likes to get updates on the activities we're doing and stuff so she can gossip about it with Madame Bellerose. But she at least knows when to leave me alone and when to interact with me.

I hid inside my room the entire night, ignoring any text or calls I received from family and friends. I stayed up late into the wee hours of the morning sketching out plans that would be legal to do and wouldn't get me in as much of trouble. Some required the help of hosts, the others just involved me. I could skip, but then that requires doing make up work and I hate doing that and I'm trying to save up my sick days for something good. And they might have me take the physical exams another day.

By the time I came up with at least three good-ish plans, the sun was already up and I was dead tired. Unfortunately, I still had to go to school, but that didn't mean I had to care about my looks. As usual, my tie was loosened and my blazer was open, but part of my shirt was untucked and I still had bedhead.

"Hiroki, could you please, please do something with your hair at least!" Mom complained as I ate my bagel.

"I'll fix it on the way to school, now I gotta go. See you later, Mom!"

I kissed her on the cheek and ran out to the limo. Mr. Toho peeled out of the driveway as soon as I jumped into the car and slammed the door shut. He was nice enough to stop and pick me up an energy pack before coming to pick me up. We didn't talk today, mainly because I was too busy fixing my hair and downing an energy drink. By the time we got to the school, my hair was somewhat less messy but still a disgrace and I was more awake to face the day.

"Hey, Hiroki," the twins greeted me when I sat down at my desk.

"Hi," I mumbled and cracked open a second can.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Hikaru said with a slight grin.

"More like stayed up the entire night," I snorted and sipped the fizzy liquid.

"Hiroki! You need to get more sleep," Haruhi scolded me.

"I know, I know, I was just trying to figure out our predicament," I said in case any of the fangirls were listening and lets face it, they always listened unless we were talking about something of importance. For example, Haruhi's and my real gender. I don't know, but it seems like they didn't listen at the most convenient times.

"Oh, that reminds us," the twins began. "Today hosting is cancelled and we're just having a meeting instead."

"Why didn't anyone tell me this before?" I asked.

"Maybe if you had picked up your phone yesterday-"

"Then you would have been pulled into the conference call," Kaoru finished for his twin.

The bell rang and the school day officially began. Even though I already drank two full cans of unhealthiness, I was struggling to focus on the subjects. Kaoru tossed a paper ball at my head whenever I started to doze off or when I wasn't paying attention to whatever subject we were on. This was probably the only time Haruhi would ever allow it seeing as I was dead tired.

When lunch came around, they decided to make me have lunch with them so I wouldn't end up falling asleep in a corner of the garden and sleep through the rest of the day. They did a poor job. I nearly got a face full of sauteed fillet of Atlantic striped bass when the twins distracted Haruhi and my head began to nod over my food. Hikaru caught me an inch before I face planted into the food.

"Try and eat something, it might help," Haruhi suggested and handed me my fork.

"Maybe, maybe not," I shrugged and pulled another energy drink from my bag so I could drink it with my meal.

The rest of the classes went the same way, but Hikaru joined Kaoru in keeping me awake. Instead of throwing paper balls, he would lean over and poke me or sink down in his seat and lightly kick my leg. He would grin whenever I turned around to give him the stink eye and the teacher would catch me looking away. But after a heartfelt apology and using what charm I have, I managed to get out of detention. It's not one of my proudest moments, but I've done worse.

The final bell of the day rang and the twins dragged me up to the third music room after Haruhi told us she was going to stop at the library first before going to the club meeting. By the time we got there, everyone else was there doing their own thing. Mori was reading a book, Honey was eating a cake, Kyoya was busy calculating the amount of money we drew in yesterday and how much our next cosplay was going to cost, and Tamaki was sitting in a chair by the window, a dreamy look on his face. I dug through my pocket and pulled out one of the tabs from my cans and flicked it at the halfer, hitting him square in the face. It didn't affect him one bit.

"That'll be enough for the image training . . ." Tamaki mumbled then got a more serious look on his face. It was like a little kid trying to be serious like an adult. "Well, just in case, I should practice another pattern."

"He's having fun, isn't he?" Honey asked, bounding up beside me and the twins.

"Is that so? He looks rather pathetic," Hikaru said, putting in his two cents.

"No, he kind of looks serene . . . in a creepy way," I said.

Tamaki snapped out of his fantasy and resumed being his goofy self. "Don't envy me, Hikaru! Everything was all planned out! Spring is, of course, a time for romance and comedy! From the beginning, Haruhi and I were romantic comedy members! We knew the results without worrying about it!"

". . . What the hell are you talking about?" I asked confusedly.

"How about us?" the twins asked instead as the rest gathered around.

"You guys are gay gay members," Tamaki said and drew a line around the boys then a separate line around me. "And Hiroki is the side heroine with her own quest and helping Haruhi realize who her true prince is!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose with one hand and rested my other hand on my hip. "Please tell me this is all a hallucination due to lack of sleep."

"Hmmm, well . . . Do you really understand this, tono?" the twins asked, sounding very irritated.

"If people discover Haruhi and me are girls, then we can't exactly stay in the Host club since it's a guys only thing," I sighed then folded my arms across my chest.

"And Haru-chan and Hiro-chan will be cuter if they dress in girl's outfits," Honey said cutesy and smiled at me, to which I just shook my head. Not even a dress will make me look cute.

"If we think about it, Haruhi was popular among guys in her Jr. high," Hikaru said then turned to me. "What about you, Hiroki?"

"According to the report, at least once a month, somebody confessed to Haruhi. Kuro has told me that before your accident, you received quite a few love letters of your own," Kyoya said.

"When the hell do you talk to Kuro?" I exclaimed.

"Why, it's our duty to make sure your family understands we intend to keep your secret safe and that you will be safe doing our club activities," Kyoya said with that cold business smile of his.

"So in other words, tono will never be close to Haruhi or Hiroki. You wouldn't even have three percent. It'll go down to zero percent," Kaoru said.

"Well, we don't care. We're in the same class as them," the twins said with a devious smile and wrapped their arms around my shoulders as a final attack on the already catatonic Tamaki.

He shook it off and got down to business. For the next half hour we made a plan for tomorrow's physical exam. I told them of the few plans I made last night and we used elements of them and the other's plans to make the "final" plan. Of course, the others had to have their revenge on Tamaki for calling them the gay gay members.

The door opened and Haruhi came in, panting slightly. "I'm sorry, I'm late . . ."

"Well, then we decided on formation A for tomorrow's mission: Haru-chan and Hiro-chan are really boys!" Tamaki shouted.

"What . . . is this meeting for?" Haruhi asked.

Tamaki took Haruhi by the shoulders and teared up a bit, saying, "don't worry, Haruhi! We'll protect your secret with all our might! So please stay as our princess, and only for us!"

"I've never made it a secret," Haruhi said and pulled herself from his grasp. "But yes, if people figure it out, I will never finish my quota. Well, then I'll think upa different was to return my debts." She then began mumbling to herself about her balance and how she could possibly pay it off.

"Commander! She lacks the will big time!" Hikaru said urgently to Tamaki.

"What an uncooperative heroine she is! Hiroki, there must be something you can do," Tamaki turned to me.

I shrugged. "Hey, I can't make Haruhi anything she doesn't want to do. Besides, if she's found out, then I am out of the club. Afterall, that is the reason I joined this club and as fun as it is, it's been hectic."

"So you're saying you don't want to be in the club?" Honey asked, getting tears in his eyes as he hugged Usa-chan.

"I'm saying I don't care either way. If I stay in the club, that's awesome. I get to hang around you guys and work on socializing. If I leave the club, I get more time to work on my studies and meet other guys that would make Mom and Madame Bellerose happy." I shrugged and patted Honey on the head. "But it's not my decision to make. This all depends on Haruhi if she wants to be found out or keep posing as a boy."

"Fatty tuna," Mori said suddenly, making everyone freeze, simultaneously giving the boys an evil idea.

"Oh yeah, we couldn't eat it on Christmas," Hikaru said and looked at Tamaki with a wicked smile. "Did you know that? She's never had fatty tuna before."

"Oh how poor of her," Tamaki replied with the same smile.

"No . . . I'm not that into fatty tuna," Haruhi declined, trying her best to keep from caving into the thought of food.

"Whoever doesn't cooperate, shouldn't eat fatty tuna!" Tamaki yelled. "I'll personally make sure you will have no chance to eat it in the future!"

"I won't mind not eating at all in the future, so please don't come near me!" Haruhi said angrily but eventually caved in, much to the delight of Tamaki, Honey, and the twins.

* * *

"I wonder what formation A is . . ." Haruhi wondered aloud as all the 10th grade students were herded to the nurse's office. "What kind of physical examination does Ouran have anyway?"

"I heard there're not many differences for the equipments," Hikaru said and Kaoru and I nodded in agreement.

"It wouldn't be good if we had differences between rich and poor for this kind of thing," Kaoru said.

"It's medical stuff, after all," I added then yawned, feeling how heavy my eyelids were for the first time that day.

We walked into the nurse's office to see rows of doctors and nurses waiting there, greeting us as we walked in. Before and after my incident, I remember the physical exams being similar to this. I think the only difference is that there are more medical professionals in high school since there are much more students. When I looked back at Haruhi, I grinned at her shocked expression. Okay, so maybe there were differences.

A young nurse with dark brown hair pulled into a bun walked up to me. "Hello, Ookubo-sama, I'm Cho and I will be your attendant. Would you like a drink while you're waiting? Or perhaps you would like to take a nap in the back?"

"No, thank you, Cho. I'll be fine," I said with a smile and looked over at the twins, who were ready to get their height measured and haruhi, who was getting the same treatment as me.

"Both of you have grown one inch! You're now five feet nine inches!" their doctor announced so loudly that I couldn't help but over hear.

The girls gushed over the twins growth. Haruhi and I shared a look.

"Is it that surprising?" Haruhi asked.

"Nah, the folks here are just overly friendly," I said with a grin.

"Haru-chan, Hiro-chan," we heard someone whisper.

We turned around and I started laughing at the sight of my friends while Haruhi looked alarmed at the thought that this was formation A. Mori and Honey were dressed as doctors and were signaling us to stay quiet about it, even though the other students new quite well who they really were.

"They're the emergency crews when something happens," Kyoya said as he walked up to us, basically implying that they're useless now.

"Kyoya-senpai, aren't you supposed to be in class now?" Haruhi asked.

"I'm on the medical committee," Kyoya replied.

I walked up to Mori and Honey, ignoring the boisterous yells of a doctor congratulating an overweight girl on losing some weight the last year.

"So, _Doctor _Mori and _Doctor_ Honey, who are you planning on seeing today?" I asked with a smile.

"Shh, we're undercover, Hiro-chan," Honey scolded me quietly.

"And I can't ask how a doctors day has been or who their future patients are?" I rebuttled.

"Well . . . we're not going to take patients today, Ookubo-sama. We'll just be observing, right?" Honey said, lowering his voice like a child would do and looked up at Mori, who nodded his head and said, "yeah."

"Excuse me, Ookubo-sama, would you please come this way for auscultation and chest measurement?" Cho asked, approaching us.

"Yes, ma'am," I said and gave my older friends a quick goodbye before following my nurse.

At the same time, another nurse asked for the twins and Haruhi for the same examination. I walked side by side with Haruhi.

"Please use the dressing room in the back for undressing," the nurse instructed us.

I looked at Haruhi with a reassuring smile. The twins began to take off their shirts, gaining a crowd of fangirls and distracting the nurses.

"We don't really care," Hikaru said.

"Even if we don't have a dressing room," Kaoru said, still pulling off his white button shirt.

"I can't take it . . . I don't want anybody to touch your body, even if he's a doctor," Hikaru said lowly, starting the brotherly love act and getting the girls to squeal.

"What are you talking about? Don't we play doctor at home all the time?" Kaoru asked, making the girls squeal even louder at an inhuman pitch.

Thankfully, Mori and Honey saw their opportunity and shoved Haruhi and I into a dressing room. While Tamaki caught Haruhi, I fell ungracefully on my butt. My tiredness was beginning to affect my balance and that was not good one bit.

Tao kept me up for most of the night, questioning me constantly over the phone despite me telling him that I needed to sleep. One thing people should learn is to never ignore Tao or he will let the devil inside him out. He just hates being ignored for whatever reason and with the predicament I'm in at the moment, he was just worried about my secret and safety. After many reassurances that physical exam day would be fine and that the host club came up with a plan, I hung up and only managed to get two hours of sleep, not nearly enough after being awake for two days straight prior to the phone call.

"I've waited for long, my princess," Tamaki purred to Haruhi.

"Tamaki-senpai," Haruhi breathed, slipping to her knees, surprised by the appearance of our senpai.

"Your surprised face is cute as well. Well, wait for us here, okay?" Tamaki asked us.

"What do you mean us?" I asked, struggling to sit up next to Haruhi.

"Yo!" Kuro said and popped out from behind Tamaki, a large grin on his now scarred face. He had convincing make up on to make it look like he had a glasgow smile. "Boy, you look tired, Hiroki."

"What the hell are you doing here?" I exclaimed, blinking away the drowsiness for now.

"Tamaki called me up and asked for a favor," Kuro grinned.

"What are you-" Haruhi began to ask but was silenced when Tamaki placed a finger to her lips.

"It's all right," Tamaki said and smiled. "We'll protect you two."

"Fujioka-sama, Ookubo-sama, are you ready?" our nurses asked from outside the curtains.

Tamaki quickly put on a brown wig and Kuro put on a brown wig with peach colored bangs. They undid their shirts and walked out. I was grinning like a mad man the entire time. I really love the twins ideas at times. Especially when it involved me getting back at Kuro for spilling the beans about the host club after all this time. Oh yeah, I hold on to a grudge like my life depends on it when it involves my brothers.

"Yes, we're ready," Tamaki said as soon as they stepped out.

It was silent for a moment before . . .

"Why, Tamaki-sama?!"

"Who is that boy dressed as Hiroki-kun?"

"Is it a cosplay of Haruhi and Hiroki? Is it? Is it?"

Haruhi practically died on the floor, amazed at the stupidity of our king and my brother. I was rolling on the floor laughing and over the curtain, I could hear the twins laughing just as loud.

"He's done it! It's so obvious! So obvious!" one twin yelled, gasping for air.

"YOOOOU! You said nobody would notice this!" Tamaki hissed but Kuro sighed.

"Yeah, I knew this would be too good to be true," Kuro pouted. "I even got Mom to do my make up."

"It's a nice little revenge from the gay gay members and side heroine," the twins said in a raspy voice, making me think someone was choking them.

"Haru-chan . . . Hiro-chan . . . they found out," Tamaki said, poking his head back into the changing room.

I laughed even harder when Haruhi glared at him and Tamaki screamed. Kuro snickered at the blonde king and skipped over to me, taking the wig off and hugging my head.

"Oh, Hiroki, how could you be so cruel to your older brother?" Kuro cooed, stroking my hair.

"What? Hiroki, you never told us you had a brother!" one of my customers gasped.

I grinned and shoved Kuro towards them. "This is Kuro, my oldest brother. He dropped by today to . . . practice his acting skills by acting like me! How do you girls think he did?"

Then came a long list of what Kuro could do to improve on his act (smile gentlemanly towards the girls, bend his knees slightly so he appears shorter, get colored contacts, etc.). In the mean time, I snuck away over to the other hosts.

"Now, Haruhi, Hiroki, we have a doctor who will keep quiet in the next room," Kyoya said,

"All the doctors here today are from a hospital that Kyoya's family owns. Kyoya-senpai should've told us earlier," the twins explained to Haruhi and I.

They shoved us into a room where a female doctor was waiting for us. She smiled at the sight of us.

"You're Fujioka-san and Ookubo-san, right? I've heard all about you two. Please undress in the back, if you don't mind," the lady doctor said.

"It's no problem at all," I said with a tired smile, my sleepiness coming back full force.

Haruhi and I stepped into the same changing room. Hey, we were both girls, so it wouldn't be weird. Haruhi barely stripped down to her pink tank top underneath her uniform when I was already standing in my black slacks and matching dark blue bra that was a little beat up after having been used for over a year (a normal one since all my sports bras were in the dirty laundry). I held my chest binder in my hand and took a deep breath. Usually I would hide under my jacket or something until the doctor came because I felt uncomfortable with all my scars. But being around Haruhi is kind of comforting, I guess you could say. I know she's not one to judge by first glance, so it made me feel comfortable in my own skin.

"God, I'm so tired I could fall asleep on the spot if I wanted to," I yawned then paused when I heard the curtains shift behind me.

Haruhi and I looked to see a male doctor inside, looking out at the female doctor. An uneasy feeling settled itself in the bottom of my stomach the longer I looked at the male doctor.

"Um, we're already in here," Haruhi said, getting his attention.

He immediately grabbed me by the arms since I was the closest, saying "NO! Please don't make any noise. I just want to find my dau-"

"Get off of me!" I yelled, the sleepiness going away and replaced by irritation.

"USA-CHAN KIIIIICK!" a familiar childish boy bellowed.

Honey came flying through the curtains and kicked the doctor in the head. The man fly into the wall, probably cracking it from the amount of force Honey used. I looked at Haruhi and would've laughed at her expression upon seeing Honey's kick if this situation didn't seem so serious.

"First," the twins said, stepping in followed by the other hosts. "The beauty that catches people's attention."

"Second, unbeatable richness," Kyoya said.

"Third, the way to be gentleman, not being able to look over ugly commoners' crimes . . ." Mori said, dropping his blazer over my mostly naked form.

"Even if the sun forgives you," Tamaki said, walking towards the doctor and placing his blazer on Haruhi's head. He pulled off his shirt, revealing a cherry blossom tattoo on his shoulder. "These cherry blossoms won't forgive you!"

"We, Ouran Host club, are here!" the boys yelled in unison and Kuro popped up behind me, giving the doctor a menacing glare.

"Don't forget the eldest son of the Ookubo family," Kuro said in a cold voice that sent shivers down my spine. The last time I heard him like that was when one of Madame Bellerose's suitors insulted my appearance and actually hurt my feelings. What he did to the boy wasn't pretty either.

"Please . . . PLEASE DON'T TAKE AWAY MY LIFE!" the doctor cried, getting on his knees and bowing to the club and my brother. "I'm a doctor called Yabu, who practices internal medicine in the next town. I wanted-I wanted to see my daughter who left me with my wife last month, because of my bad management of the hospital," he said sadly, giving up the story of his life for some reason. "I was in the rain and lost my way! When I finally reached my destination, my daughter wasn't here and for some reason I was mistaken for a doctor for physical examination!"

"How unfortunate!" Tamaki cried with Yabu, both rather easily manipulated.

"For some reason . . .? Of course you'd be mistaken if you're wearing a white gown," the twins deadpanned.

"What! I didn't realize I was still wearing my gown!" Yabu exclaimed, looking at his coat in surprise.

"And I'm sorry for being rude . . . but isn't the school you're looking for a public school located at the next town?" Kyoya asked.

"Isn't this Ourin Koukou?" Yabu asked and we all shook our heads.

Yabu fell into a pit of depression.

"How did you know, Kyoya-senpai?" Kaoru asked.

"How can a daughter of that little hospital doctor attend Ouran?" Kyoya asked rhetorically.

"Hikaru, Kaoru, draw a map to the Ourin for him," Tamaki ordered.

"Eh, why? His daughter probably abandoned him too," the twins said in unison.

"That's up to him to confirm," Tamaki said and once the map was finished, handed it to Yabu. "I'll pray for your best."

Then Yabu was off, thanking us on his way out.

"I've done something good," Tamaki said teary eyed then turned to Haruhi. "Right, Haruhi?"

"Is that it?" Haruhi asked, making me giggle at Tamaki's expression. "You said you're more spring-ish than everyone else when we went to see the cherry blossoms. Are those cherry petals?"

"Y-yes . . . it's only a sticker," Tamaki admitted.

"It is spring-ish all right," Haruhi said, giggling a little.

Tamaki, blushing from how cute Haruhi was acting, glomped her. I laughed when the twins started calling Tamaki a pervert. But suddenly they stopped and stared at me. For a long time. It was creepy, really.

"What?" I asked, shifting under their gaze.

"It's weird seeing you with breasts," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, we imagined you were just as flat as Haruhi," Kaoru said, nodding his head.

"Seriously? You saw me sticking my hand down my bra at the ball and that didn't give you a clue?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and shifted the blazer on my shoulders so it covered my chest.

"What was that?" Kuro asked threateningly, turning on the twins with a menacing look. "Who saw my baby sister in nothing but her bra?"

"I-it wasn't just us! They saw Hiroki too!" the twins pointed to the rest of the club.

"I can excuse Haruhi since she's also a girl, but everyone else," Kuro began to crack his knuckles. "You better start running. I WILL ONLY ALLOW THE MAN TO BE HIROKI'S BETROTHED TO SEE HER IN SUCH A WAY BUT YOU SIX? I'LL CRUSH YOUR SKULLS BENEATH MY FEET BEFORE I EVEN LET YOU SEE MY SWEET, LITTLE SISTER IN A BATHING SUIT MUCH LESS HER UNDERWEAR!"

Kuro chased the male hosts out of the room, spitting fire and death threats all the way. I sighed and turned to Haruhi.

"So that was Kuro," I said with a tired smile.

"He seems . . . nice?" Haruhi said in a questioning way. "Are you going to try and stop him?"

"Nope, too tired," I yawned and laid my head on Haruhi's shoulder. "Besides, they could use the exercise."

* * *

**Omake Theatre - Suoh Family's Story**

"Welcome to our joyful house!" Tamaki said proudly into my camera. "I'm the pillar of the family, the father, Tamaki!"

"Also a blonde idiot," I snickered under my breath and traveled further into our house until I found my sister in the kitchen making dinner and my brothers raiding the pantry. Like I requested, the twins were wearing shirts that had the first initial of their first names on it.

"Psst! Look into the camera!" I whispered to them and their heads shot up.

"I'm in charge of the cooking, the eldest daughter, Haruhi," Haruhi introduced herself, holding up a ladle and a leek.

The twins shot up behind her, grinning like the cheshire cat. "We're the eldest sons! We're in charge of being noisy!"

"The one on the left is Kaoru and the one on the right is Hikaru," I said, pointing to the twins so my arm appeared in the camera's view finder.

Mori and Honey walked into the kitchen. When they got here, I'm not sure. It scares me sometimes because we never gave them a key to the house. Honey smiled at the sight of my camera and waved towards me.

"We're the neighbors! I'm Honey and this is Mori!" Honey introduced themselves and Mori just waved to the camera.

I moved the camera so I was the one it was recording. I grinned at the camera.

"I'm Hiroki, I'm in charge of capturing the family life with videos and photos!" I said and flipped the camera back around, venturing out to the living room where Mommy was sitting on the couch. Mommy looked up at the camera and smiled that cold business smile of his.

"I'm the mother, Kyoya. I'm in charge of the family finance," he said, holding up the housekeeping book that no one was allowed to touch.

The footage cut to dinner time. The camera was on a tripod, filming us all. All of us, including Honey and Mori and besides Mommy, were sitting around the table under a single light bulb, forced to eat rice again for the fifth time that week for dinner. Off to the side was Mommy in his fluffy robe, sipping wine from his fancy glass. He was lounging on the really expensive couch and under the fancy chandelier we bought with who knows what money.

"We're poor, but very happy," I said with a twinge of jealousy in my voice as I looked at Mommy.

* * *

**Hallo, is'a me, Gabby!**

**Sorry this one isn't as long as the last two. Truthfully, I was writing this late at night and I was tired, so I tend to hurry up to finish whatever I'm working on. The next chapter I will make over 8,000 words long and the Hosts will have more interaction with Kuro. Hopefully, a less violent one.**

**As always, I hope you guys like the fic!**

**Toodles~**


	5. Chapter 5

Once you are born the youngest of three kids and your two older brothers are boys, you get pretty well adjusted to hi-jinks. They prank you, they put the blame on you, they fight with you every now and then, but they're still your loving brothers. They watch out for you, they beat up the bullies who dare threaten you, and they care for you and listen when no one else will. That's my relationship with Kuro and Tao and it's been like that since before I could talk. I like to compare my relationship with them to other siblings, to see what a difference a second or third child makes. When I met Hikaru and Kaoru, I saw just how much of a difference it could make, especially with twins.

"HIKARU! KAORU!" Tamaki screeched and ran over to the red headed twins. "I left you both in charge of the club's website because you promised to do it seriously.

"Huh? We're doing it seriously," Hikaru told Tamaki with a bored expression on his face.

"Yeah, we stayed up the whole night yesterday," Kaoru said.

"In order to create these masterpieces-Haruhi and Hiroki's composite photographs," they said in unison, pulling up said pictures on their computer.

When I glanced over at them, I saw that they photoshopped Haruhi's head onto Tamaki's body and my head onto Kuro's body. How did I know it was my own brother? For one, he didn't have as many scars as I do, and secondly, I caught him sending a picture of himself shirtless over his email the other day. Weird, first he wanted to murder the boys for catching me in my bra and now he's all buddy-buddy with them? It makes me wonder what exactly they did to be on his good side again.

"Hyaaa~ Haru-chan, Hiro-chan, you're so cool!" Honey complimented us as the three of us looked at the pictures.

"OUTRAGEOUS! DO YOU KNOW YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TALENTS BY DOING THIS! SHAME ON YOU!" Tamaki screamed at them and pulled out a catalog filled with cute, frilly dresses. "If you really want to do it, you must use these celebrity idols' photography collection pictures to generate Haruhi's photo. I want to see her wearing a fluffy pink dress."

"It would be faster if you'd ask her to wear those clothes," the twins said.

"Please everyone; let's not do this," Haruhi grumbled.

"Oi, what am I? Chopped liver?" I asked jokingly, actually happy that no one wanted to see me in a dress.

The twins sighed and leaned back in their chairs while Tamaki was going through his belongings and pulling out a dress. "We seem to have nothing to do these days. Haruhi, can we go to your house and play?"

"No way!" Haruhi declined.

"What about you, Hiroki?" the twins turned to me.

"Sorry, but I think it's best you don't," I said, mostly in fear of what Mom would do. She tends to embarrass me around friends and I'm trying to prolong the inevitable.

"Then, can we spread rumors of you two being girls?" they asked.

"Hey-what are we to you guys, really . . ." Haruhi asked bluntly.

"That goes without saying," the twins smirked. "You both are toys."

Before I could both start yelling at them that we weren't just objects for their own amusement, we heard the door crack open. Following the door came a rather creepy voice.

"If you like toys, please join my club," said a cloaked figure as he peered in from the opening between the doors. "Currently, we're organizing the world's ancient magical artifacts exhibition. If you join us now, we will also throw in a wonderful cursed voodoo doll for you folks.:

". . . why must he appear out of the shadows?" Haruhi asked weakly, looking to Kyoya and I for some sort of answers.

"I don't know, but the magical artifacts exhibit sounds neat!" I said with a grin.

"Because Nekozawa-senpai doesn't like the light," Kyoya said.

"You must not take part in his life," Tamaki said creepily, randomly popping up behind us, startling Haruhi and I. "If you do, you're sure to be cursed."

"What's a cursed voodoo doll?" Hikaru asked as he and Kaoru opened to doors wider and shined two flashlights on Nekozawa-senpai.

"What about this much light? Can you take it?" Kaoru asked.

Nekozawa screamed in agony and horror as the flashlights touched him.

"HIKARU! KAORU!" Tamaki screeched once again in anger that day. Suddenly, he decided to tell us why he was wary of the cloaked student. "What's wrong with you two . . . looks like both of you haven't experienced real terror! Like that time where I accidentally stepped on the edge of Belzenef. After that incident, my exam papers were filled with a jumble of nonsensical, illogical incantations, probably curses. When I realized that the situation seemed too suspicious, I glanced around the room and realized that I was warped to a different place filled with strangers!"

I looked up at Kyoya, believing there to be another explanation behind his story. "Did that really happen?"

"No. He was disturbed and went to take a Greek exam," Kyoya sighed, folding his arms across his chest.

"NO! THAT'S A CURSE! THe morning after three days, for no reason at all, my legs became as heavy as lead!" Tamaki yelled in our faces.

"Kyoya?" I asked.

"That's because we had a marathon the day before," Kyoya explained.

The twins sighed once again and sat back in their chairs. Yeah, they're bored and I can understand that, but do they have to be so apathetic? Frankly, it's starting to get on my nerves, like whenever Kuro starts bugging me on days he has off of work and his friends are all busy.

"There really isn't anything fun around here-"

"Haruhi has also gotten used to the club's activities," Hikaru finished with another sigh.

"Hikaru . . . Kaoru . . . Come here for a sec," Tamaki said, doing his best to restrain his anger at the two.

He lectured them for one hour straight. Tamaki didn't even stop to take a breather, he just wouldn't stop yelling at them, which kind of impressed me a little. Not even Mom could lecture her own kids for an hour straight without taking a five minute part where she tried to reason with us before going back to lecturing. When Tamaki was done, he gave them the punishment of not being allowed to host customers and instead do various cleaning jobs around the club for two days.

"Hey you two, when are you going to stop throwing tantrums?" Haruhi asked as we walked by, each carrying a tea tray since we were partnered together again for today.

"Seriously, I could sense your sulking on the other side of the room," I said.

"Then let us go over to your house and play," the twins pouted, holding sweeping brooms in their hands.

"That's impossible," Haruhi immediately shot back.

I shrugged. "Yeah, not gonna happen."

We walked back to our customers with smiles on our faces.

Hey, hey, Haruhi-kun, Hiroki-kun! We all know that the one with the right parting is Hikaru-kun, and the one with the left parting is Kaoru-kun, but are there any other differentiating factors?" one of Haruhi's customers asked.

"Ha. You're right. If I must really say . . . Hikaru's speech and behavior sometimes reveals ten percent more evilness," Haruhi said without any malice.

I chuckled at her. "While I mostly use their hair to tell the difference, if you listen closely, you can hear the pitches of their voice are slightly different."

But my attention was drawn to a laughing Kaoru. He was trying to stop by covering his mouth, but I could hear him clearly from my spot with my customers.

"Sorry, Hikaru," Kaoru apologized, still trying to calm down.

"I must make this clear, that's because I do not attempt to hide myself hypocritically, and if we are to talk about evilness, that should really be your forte, Kaoru," Hikaru said cooly, silencing his twin.

Kaoru sat up, becoming cold just like Hikaru. "Please don't spout nonsense, Hikaru. It's always been me tolerating your stubborn ways."

"Even if I am the brain behind the plots, the one who deeply planned every execution is you, Kaoru. If you don't like it, then don't do it, fool," Hikaru replied, looking away from Kaoru.

"You are so silly, it's pathetic, I can't take it lying down. You're even the one who came up with the toy concept," Kaoru said and decided to go in for the big blow. "Hikaru, actually, you like Haruhi. right? It's so obvious, you are always touching her?"

Hikaru and Tamaki yelled in shock. I sighed from my seat with only one thought going through my mind. This can't end well.

"Why do you have to say that? You are really an idiot," Hikaru growled, glaring at Kaoru.

"Yeah, Kaoru. In this world, there are certain things you can say, and things you can't!" Tamaki yelled, coming between the two from behind the couch they were sitting on.

"Why would I like someone who is like a little fox!" Hikaru said.

"WHO IS THE LITTLE FOX!" Tamaki screamed at Hikaru.

"This is too attractive!" Renge said dreamily, coming from nowhere. I always forget she still goes to Ouran. "There is actually a love-quadruple surrounding Haruhi! and it's a quagmire plot that two of them are twin brothers! Renge can have three bowls of rice! I must create a doujinshi!"

"Get lost, otaku," the twins deadpanned.

Renge crumpled to the floor in tears and Haruhi and I went to go cheer her up. . . . somehow.

"Renge, I thought you like Haruhi?" I asked.

My question went unanswered as the twins continued to yell at each other.

"You'd better stop while you can, your mathematical results are obviously lower than mine! You shortie!" Hikaru hissed, getting in his brother's face.

"Hikaru, you should work so much harder, in your language abilities! You fatty!" Kaoru yelled back with an equal amount of venom in his voice.

"You're irritating every time you burrow into my blanket while I am asleep!"

"I only did that because I thought you were lonely!"

"WHAT! DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT, HEY!"

"Pervert, don't always peep at me while I am bathing!"

"Despicable ecchi-boy!"

Meanwhile, their fangirls were eating this up. It kind of made me sad since this seemed like a serious fight going on between them, even if what they were shouting kind of sounded dumb and hella gay. I for one hate having such a serious fight with my brothers. I mean yeah, we have stupid fights every now and then but it's been awhile since we've had an actual real fight.

"SEVER ALL TIES!" the twins screeched, thus ending the club activities for the day.

"Hiroki~ Why the long face?" Kuro asked me as he wandered into my room.

I looked up from my laptop and sighed. "The twins had a fight today and decided that they should sever their ties with one another."

"Eh, I'm sure it wasn't that serious," Kuro said, waving his hand and sitting on the bed next to me.

"No Kuro, it was actually really serious," I said with a frown. He hates fighting just as me, so why the hell was he brushing this off like it was nothing?

"Well, then I'm sure they'll get over it by tomorrow. They're twins after all," Kuro said lamely and looked over my shoulder at the screen of my laptop. "So whatcha reading?"

"It's none of your business," I huffed and closed my laptop.

"Aw, don't be like that, Hiroki!" Kuro cooed and poked my cheek.

"I can't help it! I hate fighting that's so serious!" I groaned and slapped his hand away.

"Hiroki, relax. Like I said, they'll probably be back together by tomorrow. It's kind of stupid to get so worried over nothing," Kuro said with a slight frown.

"Like how it's stupid that you have no idea what to do with your life?" I snarked then shut my mouth, but it was too late.

Kuro narrowed his eyes. "At least I have a future. I'm gaining the company and you? You'd be lucky to get a job!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I growled lowly, getting in my brother's face and clenching my hands into fists.

"I can go out in public and have people give me compliments. They'll think I'm another handsome face in the crowd. I don't have people think I'm scary or that I'm a freak!" Kuro exclaimed, knowing very well he couldn't back out now. "That I'm some kind of monster."

"You bastard! Get the fuck out of here!" I screamed and upper cut him.

He fell onto the floor, holding his aching jaw. Kuro's eyes widened as I went in to kick him in the family jewels. He scrambled away, cursing under his breath. I followed him until I was in my doorway, death glaring at the childish man I called a brother. My face was red, too angry for there to be tears at the fact Kuro was right.

"You fucking bastard! Don't ever come near me again you asshole!" I screamed at him as he dashed down the hall. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the house could hear me screaming. "This is why I like Tao better than you!"

I slammed my door shut and flopped back down on my bed. The last comment I made was a low blow, but he called me a monster. That was quite possibly the cruelest, meanest thing anyone could call me and it my dear older brother who said it. I hate that word so much because it's true. People cringed or stared whenever I was out in public. But it's not my fault I was like this. Honest to god, if someone could just see that . . .

* * *

I walked down the halls of my school with a smile plastered on my face. People stared like usual but it wasn't one of fear. It was either confusion or more-than-usual fangirl babble. Hell, this was a lot better than the looks I would get everyday.

I stepped into my classroom and took my usual seat in front of Haruhi. She was digging through her bag either for a book or the homework given to us last time.

"Hiya Haruhi!" I said cheerfully and set my bag down on my desk.

"Oh, hey Hiro-" Haruhi's words died down in her throat as she finally looked at me. "Hiroki, what happened to your face?"

"Oh, I thought the scars were a tad bit dreary so I decided to cover them up!" I said with a smile and lightly tapped my now blemish free face. "You like it?"

Before she could answer, a chorus of gasps was heard. We looked to the side and saw Hikaru with spiky flamingo pink hair. Hikaru looked shocked at my appearance and I was equally shocked by his. Apparently I wasn't the only one who decided a change was in order.

"Morning," Hikaru greeted us after snapping out of his initial shock. "That's a nice job of makeup you did there, Hiroki."

"Thanks, my big brother Tao showed me how to do it," I said, slightly emphasizing the big brother part.

"You two are attracting a lot of attention," Haruhi said then looked directly at Hikaru. "Why did you dye it pink?"

"'cause it looks good on me," Hikaru said with a smile. "I am cute, right-from today onwards, I'll be known as the pink one. **I can't stand it when other people keep mistaking me for that Kaoru.**"

Kaoru came in with a similar hair do but a different color as Hikaru said his last sentence. He was ticked off but took his seat as Hikaru did. He greeted Haruhi and I with a smile.

"Haruhi, Hiroki, good morning. Aren't you a looker today, Hiroki," Kaoru said, nudging my arm with his elbow, noticing how more girls than usual were pay attention today.

"Thanks, Kaoru!" I said.

"Last night, just when I thought I could finally get to sleep alone elegantly, I had such a horrible nightmare. I can't believe I dreamt that I dyed my hair pink-what a disgusting thing to do, it'd make me look stupid!" Kaoru laughed loudly to get on Hikaru's nerves, which seemed to be working.

Hikaru pulled Kaoru's chair out from under him just as he was about to take a seat, making him fall. Grumbling, Kaoru pulled on Hikaru's chair, making his head knock into the wall next to him. They glared at each other and poor Haruhi was in the crossfire. I would've laughed at her current situation if I wasn't dragged into it. The twins had a death grip on me and Haruhi when we went to our next classrooms, almost like they were playing tug-o-war with us. They had freaking blow darts and were trying to use them on each other in the middle of class, and one of them actually managed to set up a bucket of water pulley system, but the other escaped and some ordinary passerby student was hit instead. Not to mention they were glaring at each other the entire time. It was starting to put a damper on my mood, but I kept up the smile.

Finally it was lunch time and while Haruhi grabbed us a table, the twins and I were getting lunch. I held out my tray and told the chef behind the counter, "one set A meal, please." They smiled and handed over the lunch. I thanked them and grabbed a drink before paying for my lunch and heading back over to Haruhi. The twins were holding up the line though. They ordered the same thing but didn't want that and kept trying to order something different from the other, but they kept on saying the same things. It's amazing how synchronized they can be even when they're fighting.

"That's enough! If you're quarreling, you must be punished!" Honey said, popping up out of nowhere holding a plate with a small cake on it. "Hika-chan, Kao-chan, have each half of the cake, and you'll be alright! . . . Ahh, but I want to eat it myself too, so can we divide it into three pieces, but what do I do with the strawberry? I cannot divide that, what can I do . . . Can I keep it for myself?"

Little did Honey know, he was just getting them more agitated. The twins resumed screaming different lunch orders, scaring Honey into launching himself at me. At least I had time to set it on the table before he glomped me, bawling his eyes out. I looked behind me and saw the rest of the club members walking towards us.

"I was wondering why it was so noisy here . . . those two, again? They are really the disgrace of the club," Tamaki said seriously before he saw Haruhi, in which he went goo-goo-gaa-gaa over her. "It's Haruhi! It's really rare to see you in the students' cafeteria!"

"No. Hiroki and I were dragged by the two of them. I usually eat my lunchbox alone in the classroom," Haruhi said, looking down at her lunch that was currently wrapped up.

I turned my attention back to Honey and just pet his hair. "Its okay, Honey. There's nothing to be afraid of. Lets have some lunch, okay?"

"Okay, Hiro-chan," Honey said and looked at me then froze. "What happened, to your scars, Hiro-chan?"

Mori and Kyoya also looked at me while Tamaki was caught up in another fantasy.

"Well, after some consideration, I thought to cover up my scars. They were too sad for my liking," I said with a smile and sat down across from Haruhi. "Kuro helped me realize this yesterday. I should probably thank him!"

Honey shared a look with the two other hosts and it went unnoticed by me. I started eating my lunch, focusing on Hikaru and Haruhi's conversation.

"What is in your lunchbox?" Hikaru asked.

"It's yesterday's leftovers, hotchpotch and eggs,sunny side up," Haruhi said.

"I'll exchange yours with mine," Hikaru said and pushed his tray towards Haruhi. "I don't like these."

Haruhi kind of gave him a look before handing over her lunch. Haruhi grabbed a fork and took a bite of her new meal. We all watched her intensely to see if she liked the food. Needless to say, she got this really adorable look on her face.

"Hikaru, well done. In order to reward you I will give you my set A meal. Now hand over Haru-chan's lunchbox," Tamaki said, offering up his lunch.

"No way. Get lost, please," Hikaru said with that bored look he gets and opened the bento box.

"Haruhi, does it taste good? Do you want mine too?" Kaoru asked as he joined us, sitting at the end of the table, next to Haruhi and me. He held Haruhi's jaw delicately and held up a spoon of his lunch. "Say ahhhh."

I chuckled when Hikaru leaned over and took the bite before Haruhi could. "Thank you."

Kaoru glared at Hikaru before throwing his spoon at him, but Hikaru held up the lid of Haruhi's bento box and the spoon bounced off of it. Kaoru started throwing his food at Hikaru, who blocked it and when he ran out of his own food, started using mine.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Stop it! Both of . . ." a for was sent flying in Tamaki's direction. He managed to dodge it by pulling a limbo move and the fork landed in someone's soup, splashing them in the face. With our luck, the spoon landed in the vice principal's soup.

"Who is the culprit?" the vice principal asked as he wiped his face clean with a cloth.

The twins pointed to each other, but Tamaki happened to be in the middle. The vice principal started yelling and scolding Tamaki, who could do nothing but endure it. Still upset that Kaoru threw my lunch, I left with Haruhi to go back to the classroom. Maybe I could beg her for a piece of her lunch.

Unfortunately, we weren't off the hook. After class, we, as in all the Hosts club members (minus the twins, who snuck off at some point), had to help Tamaki clean the cafeteria for the mess that the twins made. When we were done, we went back up to the club room to have a little meeting/have a break from all the work we did. Well, to some of us, we were used to hard work. But to people like Tamaki, they felt exhausted and worn out.

"Because of them, I feel that the rest of us are becoming more worn out . . . something's wrong here," Tamaki mumbled, resting his head in his arms. "Damnit! When did they sneak away?"

". . . If this situation persists, we will have to cancel the brotherly love settings . . . I can assure you that the request rates will definitely decrease. I'll think about their penalty later," Kyoya said as he was putting in numbers in his calculator. He looked up and smiled at Haruhi and me with that charmingly cold smile of his. "Oh hey, Haruhi, Hiroki. You don't have to worry about any responsibility, okay? Even if the sentence that sparked this catastrophe was made by you two . . . I also need you to clean your face of that makeup, Hiroki."

"What? Why? I thought if I had this stuff on, I'd get more customers," I said, arching an eyebrow. "The girls at school are noticing the new scar-free me."

"Yes, but as a result of your sudden decision, we may lose long-term customers such as Miss Keiko. Don't forget it was because of your scars that those girls wanted to know you."

I frowned. They wanted to know me or know the story behind the scars? Keiko I trusted mainly because she's my very first client, but because she's not that kind of girl. Keiko was helping not only getting me more clients, but helping me trust them. A lot of people only wanted to know the story and that's it. Once they know it, they only see a broken thing that's too much of a bother to fix.

"This is the first fight between Hika-chan and Kao-chan," Honey said with tears in his eyes as he ate his chocolate cake.

"Eh? Is that so?" Haruhi asked and Mori nodded his head, standing next to Honey.

"I have known them since kindergarten . . . They were always playing alone by themselves. Even though I never talked to them," Honey explained.

"Yes . . . I've known them only since Junior High school, but . . . They looked odd among other people. It seemed they didn't want other people to come close by. Their personalities were worse then than now, too," Tamaki said wistfully, as though he were thrown into a flashback. Then he smiled and ruffled Haruhi's hair. "Come to think of it, i feel that these fights and quarrels may not be a bad thing. At least, their world has expanded. So now, the best thing to do is to leave both of them alone."

"I don't know, Tamaki. If you receive a small wound, it's probably best to just leave it be and heal on it's own. But in other cases, it could fester and become deadly," I mumbled and looked at the tall blonde boy. "They're bad enough as it is right now, but imagine if their wounds fester?"

Suddenly, spears shot out of nowhere, nearly impaling Tamaki. The masterminds behind the weapons were none other than Hikaru and Kaoru. They both made a sound of disdain at the fact the spears didn't pierce their twin. Tamaki, enraged that he was almost skewered, chased down the twins all through the school and outside.

"I MUST DEFINITELY PUNISH BOTH OF THEM!" Tamaki screeched like a banshee.

Haruhi turned on her heels and started to leave. The rest of us looked at Haruhi, then at each other, then trailed behind her. It was a quiet walk outside and when we found the trio, I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing. It seems Tamaki fell into more of the twins traps. His uniform was dirty and tattered, one bird was sitting on his head and another was sitting on his shoulder. His blonde hair was messy and it looked as though he was pelted by eggs. Behind him was a trail of dangerous traps that could just as easily kill someone as the spears could've. A frown worked it's way onto my face and my eyebrows twitched in silent anger. Those idiots could really hurt someone!

" . . . and? Is this all the traps you've set? The troublesome twins?" Tamaki asked irritably with a forced smile, folding his arms.

"Hikaru/Kaoru, ask him," the twins said in unison then glared at each other.

"Stop joking! I am the one who's troubled here. I don't have to look exactly like Kaoru. Being treated by others as you, I am already fed up and sick with all that! ACTUALLY, I HATE YOU THE MOST!" Hikaru bellowed, rounding on Kaoru.

"Regarding that, I've always wanted to tell you too . . . look at this!" Kaoru yelled back and pulled out a voodoo doll. "This is the cursed voodoo doll I got from Nekozawa-senpai!"

Tamaki froze in terror but the rest of us just stared. That was his big weapon? Now, I'm never one to tempt black magic because that shits dangerous and think of the possibilities. What if magic is real and you just cursed someone? Like your FUCKING TWIN!

"Your name has already been engraved on the back of the doll, Hikaru. Now I will let you taste the same anguish and pain as the voodoo doll!" Kaoru said, holding out the wooden doll in front of him in a threateningly manner.

"Hey . . . this is going too far," I said seriously, glaring at the twins.

Kaoru raised the doll high above his head. "I'LL MAKE YOU-"

"Stop . . . **STOP THAT!" **Haruhi screamed and hit them over the head. Good thing she did it or else I would've.

"Don't use that kind of thing for such a stupid quarrel! Both of you are bad, and causing trouble for people around you is worse!" Haruhi yelled at them. "Now, apologize to everyone! If you two don't make up and shake hands now, you two will never ever set foot in my house in this lifetime!"

The twins nodded slowly, almost too calm. My eyes widened when I realized what they were doing. I narrowed my eyes, digging my nails into the palm of my hand until I drew blood. Those bastards . . .

"Hmm, then . . ." they looked up with smirks, holding up a script and the doll, revealing that Kaoru wrote blank. "If we call it a truce, we can go to your house?"

The others stood in shock as the twins pulled each other into a close embrace, but I was practically seething. These were the idiots I was worried about? These two were the reason I got into a fight with Kuro? I can honestly say that all I could see at the moment was red.

"I am so sorry, Kaoru! Even though I was only following the script, but those words were really too much!" Hikaru said, caressing his twins face in a rather creepy manner. "I'm not fit to be your older brother!"

"Don't say that! I was so worried that you would get hurt, what would I do then . . ." Kaoru said weakly then they both smiled.

"Kaoru! I'll never let you go again!" Hikaru said.

"Hikaruu!" Kaoru cried.

"Are you FUCKING kidding me! I am going to murder you both!" I yelled, marching up to the two taler boys and choking them by their ties. " I was actually worried for you two! From the bottom of my heart, I was worried about you two fighting, but now I find out it was SCRIPTED! Fuck you both! You two are the reasons I fought with Kuro! You two fucking _damaged _our relationship because you thought 'hey, why not script a fight?' God, you two are such insufferable prats, why did I even care for you two in the first place!"

I released them and shoved them back a bit. "You EVER pull some stupid shit like this again, I am going out for blood! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going home. Again, fuck you both, see the rest of you tomorrow."

Huffing, I stormed away, leaving a shocked host club in my dust.

When I got home, no one was in sight. I dumped my bag by the door, still grumbling curses at the twins under my breath and walked into the kitchen. No one was there, not even our chef. Sighing irritably, I opened the freezer and pulled out a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream and grabbed a spoon. I sat on the counter and started eating angrily.

"Well, looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

I looked behind me with my spoon sticking out of my mouth and saw Tao standing there, looking tired with a blanket wrapped around him.

"What are you doing here?" I asked monotonously and ate another spoonful of ice cream.

"What, no hug? Not even a hi? Who pissed you off this time around?" Tao asked and sat next to me on the counter, yawning before grabbing another spoon and eating with me. "Jet lag sucks ass."

"Kuro and the twins," I mumbled. "You didn't answer my question."

"A little birdy called me yesterday and said they called you the M word. I see you still know how to use make and latex," Tao said observantly and took another bite. "So, what exactly sparked the fight between you two?"

" . . . I hate fighting seriously, we all hate fighting seriously. I was expressing my concerns for the twins because got into a fight, their first one ever apparently. Kuro brushed it off and then we started arguing. I mentioned how he didn't have a career path, then he said I'd be lucky to get a job and that's when he calls me the M word," I said.

"And why are you mad at the twins?" Tao asked.

"It was fake. The entire fight was scripted. I was actually worried for those idiots and they're the cause of all this trouble!" I yelled, waving my hand holding the spoon. "Kuro was right and I too much of a dumbass to see it!"

"Hey, you're not a dumbass. You just take your time to see the truth of things," Tao scolded me. "While you didn't deserve to be called a monster, you had no right to make snide remarks about Kuro's future. He has enough stress as it is knowing he's the heir to the music company. Now, I want you to march your butt up to Kuro's room and I want you both to apologize to each other. We'll deal with the twins later."

"But-"

"Hiroki, I know where your baby pictures are and I swear to god if you don't go up there, I'll have a plane fly over the school and drop thousands of copies over the students," Tao said threateningly. He's not kidding, he did it once to Kuro and he still hasn't lived it down.

I shoved the ice cream into his arms and walked achingly slow up the stairs. What I hated even more than have a serious fight was making up a serious fight. You either get through it with no tears and are buddy-buddy again, or you shut get a door slammed in your face or a worse fight. You never knew what you were going to get and i just hated it.

Stopping in front of Kuro's door, I knocked on it three times. "Kuro, it's me. Open up."

The door slammed open and I was tackled to the floor by a sobbing mess. The sobbing mess was Kuro. It looked like he didn't even bother to get out of bed. His hair was a rats nest, he had dark circles under his red eyes, and tears were cascading down his raw face. A pang of guilt hit my heart pretty hard when I saw a dark bruise on Kuro's jaw. He was wearing nothing but his boxers and a fuzzy beige bathrobe.

"I'm so sorry, Hiroki. I didn't mean it yesterday, I swear to god I didn't mean it! I was just getting frustrated and started saying things I didn't mean!" Kuro blubbered into my blazer. "I shouldn't have went there. I really shouldn't have went there and I'm so sorry, baby girl! Please don't hide your face away with that make up, you're pretty just as you are!"

I was shocked to say the least. Kuro was never one to apologize first. He was never this broken up whenever we fought in the past. Then again, this has been our first fight since the incident and the incident did begin with a fight . . .

". . . It's okay, Kuro," I whispered and hugged my older brother, rubbing his back in a soothing motion. "I'm sorry for insulting your future, besides, you were right about the twins. The fight between them was all scripted."

Kuro soon was only sniffling quite pathetically. He looked at me with teary eyes. "Really? There was nothing wrong with them in the first place?"

"Yep," I said.

"Those BASTARDS! THEY COULD HAVE SERIOUSLY DAMAGED US!" Kuro screamed, sitting up and punching the air, back to his old self.

I grinned and patted him on the back. "Oh thank god you stopped crying, your tears were beginning to seep through my jacket."

"Shut up, I wasn't crying," Kuro said with a weak grin and lightly shoved my shoulder.

"Okay, you didn't cry as long as you take a shower and brush your teeth. You got some major dragon breath going on," I said jokingly.

That was probably the best part about making up. How quickly we can go back to being ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to have another fight with any of my siblings as long as I'm alive, but it's going to be inevitable. I only hope that whenever we fight, we can go back to the things the way they were before so quickly.

For the rest of the afternoon, after Kuro washed up and changed into some actual clothes. I changed out of my uniform and chest binder and settled for a sleeveless grey turtleneck and denim shorts. I didn't bother to take my makeup off. I was too busy talking with Kuro and Tao in the living room to take too much notice to it. It was around seven and no one was home, not even Mom. So Tao went into the kitchen to make some killer dinner, leaving Kuro and me to playing an intense game of Go Fish.

A knock on the door interrupted me from my thoughts.

"I'll get it," I said and got up, taking my cards with me and shoving them into my pocket.

Kuro pouted but waited patiently. I opened the door and saw Mom standing there with her hands full with bags. Mom smiled down at me, her soft black hair spilling over her shoulders.

"Thank you for getting the door, Hiroki. As you can see, my hands are kind of full, plus, you answering the door made this a whole lot easier," Mom said.

"Makes what easier?" I asked suspiciously.

Mom walked past me, revealing two grinning troublesome twins, each holding a wrapped basket in their hands. It was weird seeing them in normal, designer clothes and not the Ouran uniform. It was even weirder to see Hikaru with pink hair still, but at least they styled their hair back to their original form.

"Your mom's nice," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, she even invited us to stay for dinner," Kaoru said.

I stared at them blankly and slowly started to close the door on them.

"Wait! We actually came here for a reason!" they yelped and pushed the door open.

"I would ask you how you knew where I lived, but then I remembered we're in a club with Kyoya Ootori. Now, is Haruhi making you apologize?" I asked monotonously, leaning against the doorframe.

"No! . . . Yeah," they said with a roll of the eyes and handed me their baskets. "We're sorry for what we did, Hiroki."

I sighed and stood to the side to let them in. "You're lucky Kuro and I made up. Come on, my brother Tao is making homemade lasagna."

"Who's at the door, baby girl?" Kuro asked from the living room.

"Oh, just some friends," I replied then faced the twins. "I suggest if you want to make it past Kuro alive, you better have something to offer Kuro. Either an apology or a toy. He's like a kid sometimes, but can hold a grudge better than I can."

We walked into the living room to see Kuro was starting to build a house of cards with his hand. He looked up in our direction and started growling like a dog at the twins.

"Easy there, Fido, they have something to say," I said and looked at the twins. "Right?"

"As an apology for nearly ruining your relationship, we have an offer," Hikaru began with a smirk.

"Our mother is a fashion designer and we couldn't help but notice Hiroki is lacking in the femininity department. We'd like to have Hiroki model some clothes for our mom some time," Kaoru said with a similar smirk to Hikaru's.

"And what do I get out of this?" Kuro asked, raising a brow and leaning back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table, ruining his house of cards.

"We will personally make sure Hiroki's wardrobe consists of not only boys clothes for school and related activities, but girl clothes for family outings-not to mention you'll get copies of the photos of her every time there is a shoot," they said in unison.

Kuro stroked his chin then grinned. "Alright, you have yourself a deal!"

"Hold up! Why would you even want me to model your mom's clothes? Have you forgotten my smile? Or the fact I have more scars than just that?" I asked.

"It was my suggestion!" Mom said with a smile and popped her head out from the kitchen. "The photos of you won't be in any fashion magazine, but Madame Bellrose and I thought it might help boost your self esteem after _**someone **_made you relapse into wearing your makeup again."

Kuro looked at his feet guiltily. The twins noticed but didn't ask, probably figuring it was why I was wearing my makeup today.

"Speaking of which," Kaoru said and grabbed my face.

He used his thumbs to wipe away the latex and makeup, revealing my hideous scars. But he and Hikaru just smiled. Hikaru even ruffled my hair.

"That's better. We don't like change much, so we like this version of you," Hikaru said.

"It makes you looks badass!" Kaoru said and released my face.

I snorted but then smiled. Who knew those two could actually have some sort of soft side? Granted, Haruhi did make them come and apologize, but still. "You guys wanna see my game room?"

"Hello~ It's been a long time, but let's play the 'guess which is Hikaru-kun' game again!" the twins said in unison to their customers.

I was walking by with Haruhi, telling her about how Tao was going to be in town for another week.

"I am guessing the one with the pink hair is Hikaru-kun. Even though both of you have made up, you didn't change back the hair color, huh?" one of their customers said with a smile and a blush.

"You're right!" the twins said with a smile.

Haruhi looked at them and said, "eh, have both of you switched?"

I already knew they switched. Because I helped them with it last night after dinner. I mentioned that Tao likes to dye his hair a lot and we have a closet filled with all kinds of different dyes. After we all shared a look, we grabbed some pink and red dye and found ourselves in the bathroom, waiting for the temporary dye to set in and talked about all the possibilities of pranks we could do with not only the dye, but with our (mine really) connections.

The twins looked at Haruhi.

Well, why do you have pink hair today, Kaoru?" Haruhi asked.

I chuckled and patted Haruhi on the shoulder at Hikaru and Kaoru's shocked expressions. "Cmon, we got girls to host, Haruhi. See you guys later!"

I sat down between Keiko and Kaori. They greeted me and I poured them both a cup of Earl Grey tea. It was nice, hot, and bitter, perfect to go with the sweet cake we're about to eat.

"My apologies for being gone for so long. We just had to resolve an issue among the Hosts, as I am sure you are aware," I said softly.

"Yes, we noticed," Keiko said with a smile.

"We're just glad you're back to your old self, Hiroki-kun," Kaori said, pushing her glasses up.

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Kaori-hime?"

"W-Well, we saw you when you covered up your scars and we didn't like it very much," Kaori admitted, looking down at her tea cup and she gently traced the patterns with a pale finger. "It may be selfish of us to say this, but we like you much better as you are."

"You were hiding behind a mask of makeup, you weren't allowing anyone to see your real self. We'd much rather look at your scarred face as long as it means you're open to us than having makeup on and being closed off from everyone else," Keiko said for Kaori.

I stared at them shocked for a few seconds, trying to compute what they just said. In a way, they said the same things the twins said last night, but went in depth of what they meant.

"Ah, Hiroki-kun! Don't cry!" Kaori yelped.

I lifted a hand to my eyes and sure enough there were tears.I grinned and wiped them away. "Eh, these aren't tears, I don't know what you ladies are talking about! It's just liquid happiness!"

* * *

**Omake Theatre - Suoh Family's Story 2**

I was grinning at the laptop as I finished piecing together the clips of all the home videos I made so far. While I was sitting on the floor, Haruhi was sitting at her desk, studying and doing homework like a good child. Papa Tamaki opened the door, a towel hanging around his neck and holding a bowl with a rubber ducky and other stuff inside it.

"Hu? I'm so tired from working overtime again. Nya. Haruhi- Hiroki, do you want to take a bath with Daddy?" Papa Tamaki asked.

"No. Please go ahead and take it with Hiroki. I'm studying," Haruhi said, not looking up from her work.

"Nah, go ahead and take it by yourself. I'm busy exporting our family memories onto my external hard drive," I said, putting a song underneath the talking on the home video then exporting it.

"WAAAN! Since when have you two become so distant!" Papa Tamaki cried. "We used to bathe together all the time."

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Haruhi yelled, looking up from her work.

"God, don't make things up like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I yelled, holding a hand over my rapidly beating heart.

"Then bathe with your brothers, Hiroki, Haruhi," the twins said, coming into the room behind Papa Tamaki.

"Dudes, we're in high school! Taking a bath with you guys would be really creepy!" I yelled.

"Then, my dears, bathe with **mommy**," Mama Kyoya said with a sparkling smile and ushered us towards the bathroom, taking the items from Papa Tamaki. The twins and Papa Tamaki were protesting, but we weren't listening."There shouldn't be any problems, right? Because I am **mommy.** Isn't it just normal for **mommy** to bathe with her daughters? Right?"

Haruhi and I looked at each other then shrugged.

"This doesn't really feel right," Haruhi began.

"But we guess it's okay, isn't it?" I said more like a question.

* * *

**Hallo, is'a me, Gabby~**

**So, there was some conflict in today's chapter of Smiley Faces. I try to get serious about it, but I can't do serious well . . . I even went to the trouble of finding some kickass music to fit the mood, but just ended up listening to the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge.**

**So next chapter, we have the littlest Host introduced and a possible suitor for our young Hiroki (I SWEAR THEY'RE DIFFERENT PEOPLE!). It's'a gonna be someone from Hiroki's past and I'm super excited to introduce him~**

**Until next time!**

**Toodles~**


	6. Chapter 6

Yawning, I wrote down the last answer to my homework then closed my booklet. I hate chemistry almost as much as baking. I do love the lab work we get to do, just not the packets of homework. It sucks. But at least the chemistry teacher was kind enough to have a list of chemistry puns on the front of each packet. While most didn't like them, I actually enjoyed the puns.

"What are you doing? The doors are gonna open soon, Hiroki!" the twins exclaimed, popping up behind me in todays cosplay.

"I was just finishing up today's homework," I said.

"Well come on!"

The grabbed my arms and dragged me into the backroom. Hikaru and kaoru tossed me into a changing stall along with my cosplay. Today the theme was an Arabian Kingdom. My outfit was that of a thiefs. It was a simple, yet elegant costume made by none other than the twins. Or, at least designed by. On my head was a faint punk, almost white, keffiyeh and the rest of my outfit consisted of black and red. To keep my secret, we arranged for me to be wearing a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows under a deep red vest with matching deep red poofy pants with thin golden designs tucked into black boots that had incredibly thin soles. Around my waist I tied a peach colored sash and ashy black sash along with a golden sabre and a little black sack filled with faux golden coins. Or maybe they were real. You never know with the Host club.

When I stepped out, I was again dragged out to our usual place by the doors. By this point in time, I was used to the twins dragging me to places after they apologized. I'm just thankful they haven't dragged me to their house to model their mom's clothes yet. I'm not quite ready for that just yet.

"Just in time," Kyoya said as we approached the rest of the Hosts.

"Sorry, I was finishing up my homework before getting dressed up," I said and crouched down in the pose we discussed at yesterday's meeting.

We heard the door creak and everyone scrambled to their spots and did their cool little poses. I don't mean to brag, but we all looked pretty kickass. The door opened and we all prepared our hosting smiles.

"Welcome~" we said then realized who we were greeting.

A young boy who was wearing Ouran's elementary uniform had walked inside and kind of fell back in surprise at the sight of us. I didn't blame the kid. It's not everyday you come across an Arabian Kingdom in a supposedly empty music room.

"What? It's just a kid. And a boy too," the twins sighed and I elbowed their legs.

"Oi, be nice. They could be here for a reason," I muttered.

Still, Tamaki kept up his host charm. He held a hand out towards the boy and said, "What's the matter? Are you lost? Or did you come to my palace for something?"

The boy stood up, almost mesmerized by Tamaki's performance. "Ah . . . are you the king?"

Tamaki blinked. I could only groan at what the kid just did. I didn't hate Tamaki, but when his ego inflated even the tiniest bit, I just wanted to run away and hide in a dark room somewhere.

Tamaki held a hand to ear and the kid said louder, "king!"

The blonde president gasped happily and jumped to his feet. No one ever calls him king and for a good reason to. He acts like this and it's kind of embarrassing. But also fascinating to watch. He's a pretty good actor if he can go from being flirty and serious one second to childish and playful the next.

"I am junior section grade five class A's Takaoji, Shiro! I would like to apply as the host club king's apprentice!" the boy shouted, shocking us all.

One quick clean up later, we all decided to have a normal host day since Tamaki decided to actually take up the kid as his apprentice. His reason? He thinks Shiro is a good kid. I don't know about him, but there's no such thing as a good kid. Every kid gets into trouble at some point in their childhood, so I was sitting with my clients, waiting for Shiro to show Tamaki he's wrong.

"So, what's the gossip ladies?" I asked my two clients, a third year girl named Nana and a second year girl named Rei. They were sisters who could've easily passed for twins if Nana did have long dark brown hair and Rei didn't have a black bob cut. These two were really nice and chatty. They usually came to me to talk about what they heard in the halls and all the gossip.

"There's a new student coming!" Nana said almost immediately.

"He's coming from France and I hear he's from a very powerful family," Rei said, nodding her head.

"Hm, well do you have a name or a face?" I asked.

"No, that's all we were able to get. We did over hear the faculty saying that he's been sick all last week, which was when he was supposed to start," Rei said.

"Poor guy, I hope he's okay," I said with a slight frown.

"Ah, that's why we like you more than the other hosts, Hiroki-kun," Nana sighed blissfully and picked up her plate that had a slice of chocolate cake on it. "You genuinely care for others, even if you don't know them! I just wish more people could see the softer side of you and not just the outside."

"Well, it warms my heart to hear you say that, princess," I said with a smile.

"Oh? Tamaki-sama has an apprentice?" Tamaki's client asked him and sipped her steaming tea carefully, making us look over at him.

"Yes . . . although he's still very young, he has really beautiful eyes . . . but, fate must have played a trick on me," Tamaki said and leaned close to the girl's face, tipping her face upward with a single finger. "When you're in front of me, my heart beats so quickly as if I am a youth tasting love for the first time."

"Tamaki-sama," she swooned.

"We also like that you're not corny like Tamaki-kun," Rei whispered as we continued to spy on them and we all laughed quietly.

Shiro sat to the side of them, staring intensely at the scene before him. Tamaki insisted upon a close-up observation. Something about how it reflects more of his beauty. I'm not sure what that has to deal with teaching the kid, but whatever. He's not my problem.

"If I must say it, she's more like the crucian carp in my garden's pond. I would never use such blatant words of flattery," Shiro said, interrupting their little flirting session.

The poor girl started tearing up and ran out of the host club room, shouting "Tamaki-sama, you idiot!" I feel kind of mean for thinking this, but she did have too much lipstick on, giving her that carp effect. The twins laughed and walked over to Tamaki and Shiro, patting the small boy on the back.

"This is great Tono, you've got a cute little brother here," Hikaru laughed.

"Hikaru," Kaoru pouted then got this sad look on his face. "Hikaru . . . you'd prefer a brother like him better?"

"Idiot!" Hikaru said and pulled Kaoru into his embrace, raising the homo levels in the room by a good thirty percent. "Even if I searched the world over, no one could compare to you . . ."

"Hikaru . . ." Kaoru mumbled.

As soon as their fangirls started squealing and crying and Shiro started freaking out, I stood up with a sigh.

"My apologies, ladies, but I think I better step in before they frighten the poor boy even more," I said with a polite smile.

"Oh, it's okay, Hiroki-kun. We understand," Nana, said and waved me towards the catastrophe that was going on.

Shiro, in an attempt to escape the twins and their customers, ran off but only bumped into Haruhi.

"What is it?" Haruhi asked then smiled. "Oh . . . did those suspicious people scare you? I was too. But when you've been with them long enough, you'll become like a monk and won't be surprised by anything."

"Are you a transvestite?" Shiro asked suddenly and it just so happens that Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru overheard him. I had to give him props for figuring out so quickly.

"Okay, okay, we don't need you here, could you go and get us some tea?" Tamaki asked nervously and turning Shiro in the direction of the kitchenette.

"That's right! Haruhi, give him the tea set," Kaoru said with the same nervousness as Tamaki.

"Oi, wait, that might be too-" Haruhi handed him the tray but the moment the tray touched his hands, he let it fall to the ground. " . . . heavy," I sighed.

"Haruhi, one thousand added on your debt," Kyoya said as soon as he heard the crash, not even bothering to look over until Shiro started to clean up the mess. ". . . What are you doing with my special tailor-made new curtain?"

"What's wrong with you!" Tamaki yelled at Shiro.

"Don't make a child hold something heavy like that! Be grateful I even wiped the mess up!" Shiro yelled back.

I stepped between the two and pulled them apart. "Enough, you two. Tamaki, Shiro's right when you shouldn't him carry something that heavy," I looked at Shiro. "But you shouldn't use the curtains to clean up the mess, okay Shiro?"

But he only stared up at me with that same freaked out look he got with the twins did their little act. "I thought this was a club for beautiful people! What's a freak like you doing here!"

"Hey!" the twins snapped for me. I just shrugged it off. Kids have no mouth filter and they're brutally honest. Sometimes they mean to be so hurtful, but lash out in fear or surprise. I just scared the poor boy with my face. God, I am way too forgiving of kids.

"Shiro-chan!" Honey yelled and glomped the younger boy. "Let's have some cake together! I have chocolate flavor and strawberry flavor. You should join us, Hiro-chan!"

"Annoying. What grade are you in?" Shiro glared at Honey. "Why are you wearing the senior section's uniform?"

Upset, Honey jumped on Mori's shoulders with tears in his eyes. Shiro freaked at the sight of Mori and started throwing things at him like plates.

"Hey, stop that! You could hurt someone!" I yelled, grabbing Shiro's throwing arm.

"G-Get away from me, freak!" Shiro yelled and shoved me back.

"Noisy brat! Isolate him!" Tamaki yelled and the twins did their signature salute, saying, "yes, sir!"

A large cage fell from the ceiling and trapped Shiro, nearly trapping me as well if Shiro hadn't pushed me when he was trying to get away. I stared at the cage with confusion then ran my hands over the bars. First off, where the hell did the cage come from? Secondly . . . no, no, that's about it. Where the _hell_ did that cage come from? The longer I stared at the bars, the more fearful I became of them. This tightness in my chest began to develop and my heart was racing.

No Hiroki, you aren't going to lose it. You've been doing good this far, you're not going to have a panic attack.. Just close your eyes and walk away.

So I did just that. I listened to my Jiminey Cricket and walked away over to the kitchenette to keep myself busy by making tea. We closed up early for the day so we could have a little discussion with Shiro once he calmed down. It didn't look like that was going to happen soon though. He was pounding and pulling on the cage bars but I refused to look, I either kept my back to him or focused on something completely different, like the scuff marks on my shoes, how I needed to re-dye my bangs, and maybe the others would like a cup of tea. Only Tamaki accepted a cup.

"What are you doing? Let me out! Is this how a teacher is supposed to treat his apprentice!" Shiro yelled angrily.

"I don't have the time to play with a kid like you," Tamaki said as I handed him his cup of tea. He blew on it gently before taking a sip.

"I AM SERIOUS!" Shiro bellowed. "I'm running out of time. Teach me how to make women happy! You are a **genius **right? King!"

"God damnit," I moaned as Tamaki fell for his little trick.

"Looks like you are serious," Tamaki said with a smirk as he now stood in front of Shiro's cage. I looked down at the tea cup sitting on the table, taking in every little detail. "Okay, if you are serious, try to make use of your material. Judging from your situation . . . _you have to become a 'mischievous kid', that'd fit the taste for girls!_ Bear in mind, those girls tend to get indescribably moved by males of younger age or with a baby face. According to my analysis, the types they like could be classified in Lolita, Mischievous, and Weak types. Take Honey-senpai as an example, he'd be a perfect Lolita type! . . . probably. And the basics for the mischievous type, is to wear short pants even in winter!

"Draw some wound marks on the cheeks and the knees to assist your mischievous role!" Tamaki yelled and Hikaru and Kaoru set to work in drawing a crossed scar on his cheek with a marker and putting bandages on his knees.

"Run mischievously!" Tamaki yelled and Shiro took off running around the room.

"This can only end badly," I said and Haruhi nodded in agreement.

"THEN FALL DOWN RIGHT THERE WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!" Tamaki screeched like a banshee and Shiro did as he was told.

I sighed and knelt beside the kid. "Hey, you okay, kiddo?"

"Answer right away!" Tamaki chided and I threw him a glare over his shoulder.

"It's nothing," Shiro said and wiped his cheek, not daring to look at me. "I'm fine."

The idiot trio, as I like to call them now, smiled and gave Shiro a thumbs up. Of course, Shiro just thought they were idiots and was trembling with rage.

"I've had enough, idiots!" Shiro yelled and got up, running out of the room. "If you don't want to teach me seriously, then forget it!"

"Hey, Shiro!" Tamaki called after him but Shiro slammed the door behind him. "Hmm, I didn't expect him to dislike the mischievous type."

"You guys can be such dummy's sometimes," I sighed.

"He said there's no time," Haruhi told them and Tamaki got his thinking face on. This can't be good.

* * *

I giggled at the sight of Honey and Haruhi. While Honey was actually wearing the same uniform as Shiro, Haruhi was wearing the middle school uniform and the wig from the Christmas party. It's really amazing what a wig and a skirt can do. I was more giddy over the fact I convinced Hikaru and Kaoru out of playing dress up with me. I'm not a shorty like Haruhi and my scars'll scare off the kids if I tried talking to them. Even though I was sneaking around with the rest of the hosts, I wore a mask after a long debate with the others. I really didn't want to scare anymore kids today and send them to therapy.

Still, the kids spotted us the moment we stepped into the junior section of the school. Mainly because the twins and Tamaki were fawning over Haruhi for looking so cute in a mini skirt and a wig. I really wanted to call them out as perverts, but I don't think anyone or thing could knock them out of their 'spying on Haruhi' mode.

"Come on you guys, they're starting to move," I moaned, tugging on Kaoru and Hikaru's blazers.

"Ah, she's right! We better go before we lose sight of them!" Tamaki said and we were on the move again.

I followed them at the back of the group, behind Mori, at a leisurely pace. We followed them to the 5-A classroom and while I was about to step inside, I heard a cry of distress. I stopped and looked down the hallways. The yelping came again, this time from my left.

"Eh, I'll be back. I need to check on something," I told Mori and once he nodded at me, I walked towards the noise.

It sounded like a little girl. The closer I got to the girl, the more pitiful and saddening her cries became. Laughter soon accompanied the girl's crying so I picked up my pace. I took a right and at the end of the hall was a boy picking on a girl. She was curled up on the ground while he was roughly pulling her hair. He then pulled out a pair of safety scissors from his pockets.

"Hey! What's going on here!" I yelled and stomped up to the kids.

The boy immediately released the girl and hid the scissors behind his back. "N-Nothing!"

"Were you going to cut her hair?" I asked, noticing the girl was reduced to sniffles a she looked up at me with big, cat shaped amber eyes. Something about them were very familiar.

"No! I wasn't going to cut her hair!" the boy yelled, sounding irritated.

I sighed and crouched down to his level. "Listen kid, don't lie. Bad things happen when you lie. Like you could meet Mr. Shears."

"Who's Mr. Shears?" the little girl asked, a french accent coming out of her mouth.

"You guys don't know Mr. Shears?" They shook their heads and I grinned behind my mask. This may be the only time I'm going to show my face to kids, but it'll be worth it if he doesn't bully her or anyone else again. "Mr. Shears used to be a regular man, a barber in fact. He became a barber because he likes to cut things. But as time went on, Mr. Shears found that cutting hair wasn't enough. Then, he came up with an idea one day when he was watching his nephew. You see, his nephew liked to do bad things and then tell lies and put the blame on someone else. He said to himself, 'the next time he lies to me, I'll just punish him properly' and the next day, he had to take care of his nephew.

"'Now, be good. I'm going to be in my study for the next hour and I trust you'll behave yourself in the mean time,' Mr. Shears said to his nephew, who nodded his head. When Mr. Shears was gone, the nephew decided he wanted to draw smiley faces on the walls and when he was tired of drawing, he decided to go play outside in the mud. When he came back inside, he tracked mud every: on the floor, on the couch, on the carpet, everywhere! By the time the hour was up, Mr. Shears left his study and saw the mud and the drawing on the walls. He was beyond furious."

"S-So what did he do?" the girl asked.

"He marched up to his nephew and asked who made the mess. the nephew replied, 'it was the cat!' but Mr. Shears was smart enough to know that cats certainly can't draw on the wall and they certainly don't make human shaped mud markings on the floor. So Mr. Shears grabbed his nephew by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen. He pulled out his biggest knife and said, 'cats can't draw and they certainly can't make a mess like you can. You'll be punished for lying to me,' and then he cut his nephew's face so it looked like he had a big, scary smile as an ode to the face he drew on the wall!

"That's when Mr. Shears decided he would punish bad little kids who dare tell a lie," I said, finishing my made up tale.

"Pshh, that's just some stupid made up story!" the boy snorted, putting his hands on his hips.

"Y'know, I lied to my mom once when I was about your age. I shaved our dog and when she asked me who did it, I blamed it on my older brother. I wish I told the truth," I said with feign sadness.

"What happened?" the boy asked curiously.

"Well, Mr. Shears paid me a visit!" I yelled and pulled down my mask, showing off my scars. "I suggest you apologize to the young lady here before Mr. Shears decides to put you on his list, kid."

"S-Sorry, Lilou! I'm sorry I almost cut your hair and made you cry," the boy stuttered then ran off, tossing the safety scissors to the side.

I chuckled and moved my mask back up to it's rightful place.

"How did you get those? Really, I mean," the little girl asked and I looked back at her.

"Ah, you're a smart one," I said with a chuckle and ruffled her dark brown hair. "I got in trouble a few years ago and these are the result. You okay, kid?"

"Yeah, and my name's not kid. It's Lilou," she said and stood up, dusting off her pink uniform. I noticed that she had a bruise on her cheek. Lilou noticed I was staring and averted her eyes, twirling a piece of her hair. "My maman says it's not nice to stare."

"Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to," I apologized and stood up. "Did he hit you, Lilou?"

"No, I accidentally hit myself when I tripped when I was running away from him," Lilou said truthfully. "Thank you for helping me, Miss."

"No prob . . . you are way too smart," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "Can you keep it a secret, Lilou? People are supposed to think I'm a boy."

"Yeah, I can keep a really good secret!" Lilou boasted, making me chuckle. "What's your name, Miss?"

"Hiroki. Listen, if you ever have trouble with anymore bullies, then drop by the third music room in the high school, okay? I'll make sure to take care of it," I said then paused. "Hey, do you know a boy named Shiro? He's in the five A class."

"Yeah, he's friends with my friend Hina," Lilou said.

"Well, do you know where he might be right now?" I asked.

"Yeah, he should be in the music club right now. Come on, Hiro, I'll show you!" Lilou grabbed my hand and started leading me down the hallways. When we came to the music room, we saw the other Hosts standing outside, looking in through the window. "Here we are, Hiro!"

"Thanks again, Lilou," I said, getting the attention of the other hosts. "But I gotta know, how did you figure it out?"

"You have a pretty face! You have a way too pretty face to be a boy," Lilou said with a smile.

"You're gonna be quite the charmer when you grow up," I said and ruffled her hair.

"Okay, I gotta go, Hiro. Thanks again for helping me! Merci! Au revoir!" Lilou said.

"Adieu, petite fille," I replied and waved to her as she skipped off.

"Was she why you ran off, Hiro-chan?" Honey asked, jumping on my back.

I nodded. "She just needed a little help is all. Now! What's the situation?"

"I'm positive he likes the girl playing the piano in there, but we're trying to figure out how he's running out of time," Haruhi said.

"Excuse me, young lady," we heard and Haruhi and I gave Tamaki a look as he handed a young girl who was passing by a rose. "Tell me something about the girl who's playing the piano there."

"Eh . . . about Kamishiro, Hina-chan? Well, she will be moving away soon. I heard that because of her father's job, they will be moving to Germany after next week," the girl replied, taking the red rose from Tamaki.

The door to the music room slammed open and Shiro stood there, looking positively angry. "What are you doing! What are you trying to do coming all the way here-"

Tamaki pulled a Mori and hefted Shiro over his shoulders and began walking off. I laughed at the sight while the twins were shocked that Tamaki would use Mori's "ultimate" technique. We trailed after Tamaki and Shiro, getting weird looks from the students in the hallways.

"What are you doing, put me down!" Shiro shouted.

"Don't do stupid stuff, kid!" Tamaki yelled back.

"Put me down you stupid king!"

"Shut up! Or I'll throw you down!" Tamaki said angrily. "You are the one being an idiot. How do you make a girl happy? Don't make me laugh. Even if you asked us so much, we wouldn't answer you. Because you do not want to make girls in general happy, but you only wanted to make _her_ happy, right? That method . . . only you could look for it yourself."

During his spiel, Shiro resisted less and less until he was just simply hanging over his shoulders. "Forget it . . . there's no time," Shiro sighed as we made it back to the third music room. "I wish to at least watch her play . . . that's why . . ."

Tamaki opened the door and walked up to the grand piano in the corner of the room and set Shiro on the bench. It was a beautiful white piano, but it was covered in a thin layer of dust from neglect.

"Mama mia, that piano is beautiful!" I gasped, ripping my mask off and running up to the grand piano to check out the inside and to see the brand. I chuckled. "Of course it's beautiful, it's an Ookubo piano."

"I didn't know there was a piano here," Haruhi said as she took her wig off.

"Of course, it's the music room after all," the twins said as though it was the most obvious thing.

"That's because this is the music room," Kyoya answered right after the twins.

"It has been placed in that unseen corner for a long time," Honey explained with a smile.

I sat on one side of Shiro as Tamaki grabbed music from a closet. I nearly squealed at the sight of not only all the sheet music but the other instruments. It was a gold mine that only the hosts knew about!

"What is the practice piece now? Is it Schubert's? A sonata piece for four-hand performance?" Tamaki asked as he sat on the other side of Shiro and set the music up. "Are you familiar with this piece, Hiroki?"

"It was a pain to learn as a kid, but I think I still remember how it goes," I said and shared a smile with my senpai.

"Would you like to do the honors, or shall I?" Tamaki asked.

"I haven't heard you play before, Tamaki. I'd love to hear what you have to offer," I said and urged him to play.

He smiled and raised his hands then began to play. The music came to him naturally and I noticed he didn't even need to look up much to know what came next. He must've worked really hard to learn this piece and even memorized it. Even I can't memorize my music like that. When I looked up, slightly nodding my head to the time of the music, I giggled at Haruhi's expression. She was surprised Tamaki could play so beautifully.

"From what I saw," Tamaki began as he continued to play as Shiro looked at him in amazement. "It looks like she wanted to play the piano _with_ you. There is still time! A one-week long concentrated _extreme practice!_ Morning, lunch break, and after school! Hiroki and I will teach you how to play it!"

"Eh?" I said, snapping from my dazed state. "I have to teach him too?"

"Yes, although it's for a more selfish reason. I'd also like to hear you play," Tamaki admitted with a dorky smile.

" . . . Fine."

* * *

"Really? You're playing the piano again!" Tao gasped over the phone.

"Yes, yes, I'm teaching this kid named Shiro a Schubert piece. Tamaki asked me to help him out with the teaching and right now, I'm supposed to be in the music room," I said, rushing down the halls of the school, holding my phone to my ear with my shoulder while shoving papers into my bag.

"Oh, I can't wait to tell Mom and Dad and Kuro! They'll be so happy to hear this!" Tao squealed on the other end, making me cringe. "Do you want me to wait until you get home so we can skype Dad? Or should I just have a conversational call with them all now?"

"Just wait until I get home. Why don't you make dinner or something to keep yourself busy in the mean time?" I suggested, climbing up the stairs.

"I can't. The chefs are here today and won't let me go into the kitchen since I gave them a paid vacation. They're planning a really big feast," Tao said.

"Then play the Impossible Game or watch the Lord of the Rings, both will keep you busy until I get home," I said and stopped in front of the music room doors.

"Hiro!"

I looked behind me and saw Lilou running up the stairs.

"Look, Tao, I gotta go. Love you, bye," I said quickly and hung up on him, shoving the phone in my pocket. "Hey Lilou, what're you doing here? Is anyone bothering you?"

She shook her head. "Is it okay if you meet my brother? He wants to thank you for saving me."

"Uh, sure, but he has to come to me. I'm gonna be kind the rest of the week," I said.

"Super! My big brother is gonna be so excited to meet you, Hiro! He might still be here! See you later, Hiro," Lilou said excitedly and ran off.

I shook my and laughed at the girl before walking into the music room to be greeted by the other hosts and Shiro.

"Put more emotion in this part! it should be something like 'lala-lu~'" Tamaki sang as Shiro attempted to play the piece.

"I don't get it!" Shiro yelled.

"How long have they been at it?" I asked Kyoya.

"Approximately half an hour. You're unusually late," Kyoya commented as he did the financial business side of the Host club.

"I got held up by my Music teacher. She said that we had a new trumpet player coming in and seeing as I'm an Ookubo child, she wants me to make sure he settles in well with the Ouran band class and catches up on our music," I explained and set my bag down on a couch.

"Yes, well, you might want to step in before Tamaki does something drastic," Kyoya said, looking at the arguing duo.

"What? Insane amounts of practice crammed into one week wasn't drastic enough?" I said sarcastically and sauntered over to Tamaki and Shiro. "Stop it you two and let's get to work. We only have two days until the recital."

"The idiot king was stabbing my fingers earlier! Where were you!" Shiro demanded.

"Sorry kid, I got held up. Now, let me hear what you've managed to practice so far today," I said, sitting next to him.

Shiro started playing and for a good fifteen minutes I helped him when he needed it and gave him advice to help his fingers move a little quicker. He was coming along greatly. Shiro will probably be ready to play with Hina at the recital with no problem whatsoever. As we neared the center of the piece, there was a knock on the door.

"Ah, that must be for me. Tamaki, take over real quick and keep the shouting to a minimum," I said and got up, patting him on the shoulder as I walked towards the door.

"The club's closed today," Hikaru said.

"So who could that be?" Kaoru asked as they snuck up behind me.

"We'll find out soon enough," I said and opened the door.

"I found him, Hiro!" Lilou sang as she lunged at me. "Big brother is going to be so happy!"

I grabbed her in hug, stumbling backwards a few steps. The twins quickly steadied me and looked at the girl who was currently nuzzling into my neck.

"Who's she?" they asked.

"This is Lilou, we met when we kidnapped Shiro three days ago," I said and shifted her in my arms so I had a better hold on her. I looked towards the door and didn't see anyone standing there. "Lilou, where is your brother?"

"He'll catch up," was all she said and looked at Hikaru and Kaoru. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Hikaru-"

"I'm Kaoru-"

"And we're the Hitachiin twins!" they said with a grin.

"I'm Lilou Mikhailov!" Lilou greeted them, reaching over my shoulder to shake their hands. "Like the company that sells all kinds of weapons!"

Before she could even grab their hands, I held her out at arms length, giving her a blank stare.

"What did you say your last name was?" I whispered.

She had this shit eating grin on her face as she said, "Mikhailov."

"Lilou, petite soeur, you need to stop running off like that! You could get hurt," a boy said with messy, fluffy light brown hair as he appeared at the doorway, wearing a designer long sleeve dark red shirt with black and white vine designs on it, designer jeans, and regular black converse.

He looked at me with honey amber colored cat shaped eyes and froze. His mouth parted a little as he stared at me in astonishment. The boy was very tall, even taller than Mori by a couple of inches. He had tan skin and freckles dotting his cheeks, spreading over his slightly big nose on his roundish face. He had a thick build but was probably just as muscular was Mori was.

"I found her, big brother! I found Hiroki!" Lilou said, hopping out of my arms to pull her brother further into the room and shutting the door.

As Lilou said "her" Tamaki slammed his hands on the piano keys to prevent Shiro from hearing our little secret.

"That'll be enough for today, Shiro. Go home and practice your fingering," Tamaki said cooly, handing Shiro his bag.

The elementary did so without question, happy to escape our blonde idiot for the day. On his way, out, he waved to Lilou before slipping out the door, closing it behind him.

"It appears we have another situation," Kyoya said, setting down his booklet.

"No, there's no situation," I breathed, still in shock at who I was seeing before me.

"What, do you two know each other?" Haruhi asked, looking back and forth between us.

"If he's who I think he is, then yes," I said.

"Luca Mikhailov, are you Hiroki Ookubo?" he asked softly, walking up to me and leaving Lilou behind, who was smirking.

I nodded. Luca broke out into a grin over pulling me into a bear hug, lifting me off my feet.

"I am so glad to see you're okay! I tried to find you through social media sites, articles on your family, even obituaries, but you never came up," Luca said happily with a faint French accent.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, just who is this guy?" Hikaru asked, narrowing his eyes at Luca.

"This is Luca! He saved my life!" I said happily, returning Luca's hug. "It's so good to see you again, Luca, especially now that it's under better circumstances."

"I just wish I could've done something sooner, now that I see that your scars still linger," Luca said and set me back on my feet.

"You were there when Hiro-chan got her scars?" Honey asked, bouncing up to us.

"Yes, petit, I was there and I'm so sorry, Hiroki," Luca said.

"It's not your fault, Luca. These are scars I can deal with. Besides, if it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't even be here with my family and friends," I said and stood on my tippy toes to pat him on the head. "Vous avez bien fait."

"This is touching and all, but there is still the matter of Hiroki's secret," Kyoya said, interrupting our little moment.

"Secret?" Luca asked.

"See, everyone at Ouran except the people you see in here think I'm a boy. It's kind of a long story, but it would be nice if you kept my real gender a secret," I said.

"Of course, mon ami, I would never betray your trust like that," Luca said.

"Come, sit! I must meet the man who saved my daughters life!" Tamaki said enthusiastically, making everyone sit on some couches.

"Uh, daughter?" Luca asked.

"It's part of the long story," I said, sitting next to him.

Lilou ran over and jumped on Luca's lap. "Did I do well, big brother?"

"You did superbement, petit," Luca said with a smile.

"Pourquoi n'avez-vous pas me dire que vous parliez français? **[Why didn't you tell me you spoke French?]**" Tamaki whined at me.

I rolled my eyes and said, "you didn't ask."

"Vous parlez français ainsi? **[You speak French as well?]**" Lilou asked with big, sparkling eyes.

"Oui, petite fille, **[Yes, little girl]**" Tamaki said with a smile

Then Tamaki and Lilou went into a conversation using only French. Luca laughed at his younger sister, explaining to us that she felt a little deprived of her French heritage ever since they moved. The Hosts asked Luca questions about himself and his family and he would answer truthfully. I was happy that no one asked exactly how we met or who he saved me from. After an hour passed, we all decided to go home and Luca was lucky that he wasn't forced to be in the Host club like me and Haruhi. Probably because I knew him beforehand.

When I stepped foot into my home, I was whisked away by Tao, who already forced Mom and Kuro into Dad's study. I didn't even mind, still happy over the fact I was now going to school with Luca. We crowded around the desk as Kuro set up the Skype call.

"This better be important, Tao, or I won't hesitate to throw out your makeup kit," Kuro said agitatedly, most likely having been woken up from a nap by his younger brother.

"It is! It involves Hiroki, afterall," Tao said with a smile.

"Oh? Did you finally find someone who will love you for who you are, baby girl?" Mom asked with a smile.

"Sorry to disappoint, but no. I do have some news though, two things actually," I said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Two?" Tao furrowed his brows in confusion. "But you said-"

"Hello?" Dad's tired face popped up on the screen.

"Hi Dad!" us kids chorused.

"Hey kids, hey Fumiyo. What's with the urgent call?" Dad asked then yawned.

"Well, since Tao has been dying to tell you all day, I'll say that news first. I've been teaching a kid how to play the piano this past week," I said.

"That's wonderful, baby girl!" Dad said with a tired smile.

"Finally moving on?" Kuro asked softly.

"Yep," I said, returning Dad's smile.

"Now what's the other thing, Hiroki?" Mom asked.

"I'm going to school with the boy who saved me," I said.

Dad grabbed his phone and said, "I'm booking the next flight back home."

"We can finally thank him after all these years," Mom said through tear filled eyes and a smile.

"Dude, invite him over for dinner this weekend!" Kuro yelled.

"No, tomorrow! We need to meet him!" Tao yelled then pulled out his phone. "Fuck man, I'm staying another week to meet him! I'll be back, I need to call the school."

Ever since my family received news that a mysterious boy carried me to the hospital and made sure I received treatment before he did they wanted to meet him. But by the time they reached the hospital, he was checked out, sent back to his home life with his parents. They tried getting the name out of the hospital staff, but they wouldn't budge and I was still freaked out over the entire event that I didn't even want to speak about it at all, so they forced themselves to let it go. It seems like they forgot about it until I said what they wanted to hear.

"I'll invite him to dinner this weekend, just chillout you guys," I laughed.

"We finally get to meet the guy who saved my little fucking sister, we are not going to fucking calm down," Kuro said seriously.

"Language, Kuro!" Mom scolded him and smacked him the back of his head.

* * *

The long awaited recital came. I found myself wearing a suit with a tailcoat similar to the other's standing by the doors to the music room. Shiro was sitting at one of the two pianos, silently going over the music once more before Hina arrived.

"Places everyone, Hina will be any second," Tamaki said and we listened to him, scrambling into our spots.

The twins stood on either side of the door. On Kaoru's side, it was him, Kyoya, Haruhi, then Tamaki and on Hikaru's side, it was him then Mori with Honey on his back and then me. There was a knock on the door and the twins opened it. Our faces fell when it wasn't Hina, but I smiled at the sight of Luca standing there with Lilou on his shoulders.

"Uh, am I missing something?" Luca asked.

"No time for questions Luca, either get in here or leave. The recital is today," I said and he scrambled inside, the twins shut the doors behind him. "Just take a seat and the recital will begin soon."

"Good luck, Shiro," Lilou said from atop her brother's shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah," Shiro muttered and froze when there was another knock on the door.

We put on our hosting smiles and opened the doors. Hina stood there, looking at us with wide eyes, holding the invitation we had Lilou give her during lunch.

"Welcome, princess," we greeted her and showed her to Shiro, who was sitting at the piano, his hands resting over the keys.

"Let me introduce you to today's main show: Takaoji, Shiro's piano," Tamaki said as he walked over to the duplicate piano next to Shiro's and pulled out the chair for her. "If you please, princess?"

Hina smiled and sat in the chair. Shiro and Hina shared a smile and they began to play together. us hosts smiled at the sight of young love. In the middle of their performance, I walked over to Luca and Lilou, both were bobbing their heads to the music and humming along to the melody.

"So what brings you two here today?" I whispered and sat next to Luca.

"Big brother wants to spend time with you," Lilou replied softly, watching her friends play together.

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow and half smiled towards Luca.

He just smiled and nodded his head. "It's been two years since we last saw each other and now we're going to the same school. I missed having you around and I really want to spark our friendship again."

"Well, you're in luck. My family really wants to meet you," I said softly. "They want to meet the boy that saved my life so they want you to come over for dinner this weekend."

"I'd love to come over," Luca said excitedly.

"Can I come?" Lilou asked.

"Sure thing, kiddo," I said and ruffled her hair.

"So, do you email your girlfriend who's in Germany everyday?" one of Tamaki's customers asked.

"Yup, I do," Shiro replied. "But unexpectedly, she gets jealous really easily. So, don't tell anyone that I'm friends with you pretty ladies, okay?"

The girls squealed over Shiro's cute little act. Tamaki was more or less angry at the boy for stealing the limelight. It's his fault for teaching him how to flirt.

"You really should've seen this coming, Tamaki," I chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. "You _did _lock him up in a cage after all."

"No! It shouldn't be like this!" Tamaki yelled and with the help of Hikaru and Kaoru, we held him back from straight up murdering the kid.

Just another ordinary day at the club, yep.

* * *

**Hall, is'a me, Gabby~**

**Soooo lame story is lame. I just came up with it on the spot and I was like "eh, it'll do for now" but now that I am rereading it, I cringe 'cause I don't like it. Also, I got around to introducing Luca and Lilou Mikhailov! They show up plenty of times, but at some points they won't be in it (like the Battle of Karuizawa, visiting Haruhi's home, etc.) but they're there most of the time.**

**Originally I was going to post this on Monday, but then I heard the news about Robin Williams and yeah . . . then yesterday it was storming pretty hard so the connection was poor, but I managed to find time today to squeeze it in.**

**As always, I hope you enjoyed the latest installment and continue reading!**

**Toodles~**


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay, so you want me over at your house in an hour?' Luca asked me as we exited the school, dressed in our uniforms.

"Yeah, my family is really psyched to meet you. My dad even booked the next flight home once I told them I was going to school with you," I said with a slight chuckle.

"Aw, I feel so special," Luca said with a smile.

"Hiroki!"

We turned around just in time to see Honey and Mori running towards us. I yelped when I was hefted over Mori's shoulders and they started running towards a black limo.

"Target captured, Tama-chan!" Honey said bubbly as the window rolled down to reveal Tamaki wearing sunglasses.

"Seriously, how many times do I have to tell you I don't like being manhandled!" I grumbled angrily.

"Excellent work, you bring Hiroki along in your car, I already have the devil twins and Haruhi," Tamaki said, pulling his sunglasses down a little.

"Just WHAT do you think you're doing with mon ami?"

We all looked and saw Luca standing there, tapping his foot while glaring down at the boys. If there's one thing no one ever wants to do is get on Luca's bad side. Being the heir to a mass producing weapon company, his father and grandfather taught him how to use weapons in a defensive and offensive manner. He's a prodigy, he can turn almost anything into a weapon. I know, I've seen him do it and I know how scary he can be. Kidnapping me isn't exactly going to make you stay on his good side.

"You should come with us, Lu-chan!" Honey exclaimed, tugging on Luca's arm as he pulled Luca in the direction of a black car. Mori followed behind, keeping me slung over his shoulder. Like a lot of people, Luca fell for Honey's innocent cutesy nature and couldn't stay mad at him and Mori by default. So he was okay when they pretty much kidnapped us and took us to an unknown location. All I knew about this unknown location before being shoved into a dressing room with Haruhi was that it was artificial and it involved water.

"Hell. No." I said bluntly as I saw the bikini, tankini, and other two piece swimsuits in front of us.

"Hey, I think I found something," Haruhi said as she wandered the rows.

She pulled out some swimming trunks, a hoodie, and a plain white shirt with blue sleeves. Haruhi took the hoodie and the longer pair of trunks, a plaid, knee-length design that suited her. My shorts on the other hand were black, made of a softer fabric, and went right above the knees. Haruhi's were obviously boy trunks while mine were girls, but I didn't really care. I shaved my legs last night and these puppies were smoother than a baby dolphin. However, I didn't feel like wearing my binder anymore, so I slipped a colorful tankini top on then put my shirt on. God, it felt good to dress without having to wear my binder for once.

We exited the dressing room and was immediately blinded by the artificial light. Right, back to the important question. Just where in the hell were we?

"Haru-chan~ Will you drink some coconut milk?" Honey asked, pouncing on the unsuspecting girl.

The place was enormous. It had a giant pool with slides off in the distance a current pool not far from that. The twins were in the pool, one of them on a floating raft. Mori was standing on a diving board, ready to jump. Kyoya was sitting was sitting at an umbrella table, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, drinking from a fancy looking umbrella drink while Tamaki was lying out in the fake sunlight, his shirt unbuttoned as though he were trying to get a weird tan. As I surveyed the area, I noticed a sign with a map, saying "Ootori Aqua Garden."

"I am calming down . . . At least here there aren't any clients to serve. I call this a handsome warrior's break time," Tamaki said blissfully, unaware that Haruhi, who escaped Honey's clutches, was now trying to find the exit.

"A warrior? All you do is flirt with girls," I scoffed and grabbed onto Haruhi's hoodie, preventing her from running away. Hey, if I was going to be here, I wasn't going to be left alone with the Host club without the ever responsible Haruhi present.

Tamaki stood up and put his arm around our shoulders, gesturing to the artificial jungle. Or maybe it was real. There was some animal life and noises coming from it.

"Look at that. There is a bird from the southern country. What could its name be? Sometimes, killing time with trivial conversations such as this is important to people like us who take care of beauty daily," Tamaki said as I shrugged his hand off.

"Not only is it trivial, but it has got nothing to do with me, so can I leave now? I have to go do laundry," Haruhi said bluntly, looking at the bird with little to no interest. "But what does Kyoya senpai's family do for a living? Hospital management, swimming pool management . . ."

"Well, it's management anyway, not including others but . . . yeah, if I had to think of something in common between them," Kyoya said then smiled. "Wouldn't you say they are all 'recovery related'?"

"Haruhi, Hiroki, let's go play in the water!" Hikaru said as he and Kaoru emerged from the pool.

"But, your swimsuit?" Kaoru said, observing our outfits. "You didn't pick one from our extensive expository?"

"She didn't, I did. I was just observing the place before jumping into the pool, I said.

"Good, I'm not the only one."

I turned around and saw Luca standing there with a sheepish smile, wearing a pair of black swimming trunks with red stripes going down the side and a plain gray shirt.

"About time you got out," Hikaru said.

"We thought you might've gotten lost," Kaoru said.

"We're just a bit . . . self-conscious about our bodies," I said with a shrug.

"What's there to be self-conscious about, other than the obvious that is?" the twins asked, referring to me in the last part.

"Uh, well . . ." I began and Luca silenced me by resting his hand on my head.

"Lets go into the flow pool, okay, mon ami?" Luca said.

I nodded my head and we both took off our shirts. Smaller scars were revealed on my shoulders and upper back, but nothing took the Host club by surprise like Luca did when he took his shirt off. While the front was flawless, if you looked at his back, you could see multiple randomly placed scars littering his back. Luca ignored the stares of the people who could see his scars raced me towards the flow pool. Haruhi, sensing neither of us wanted to tell them about Luca's scars, spoke up, getting the stares off of me and Luca.

"These kinds of places aren't fascinating to me. Plus, I don't feel like swimming and I don't want to change. To play is the water, a vinyl pool is just fine," she said.

"This is nice," I said with a smile as I swam against the current, slowly being pulled in the direction the water was going.

"You're lagging behind, mon ami," Luca teased as he swam in the same spot.

"Lagging? Oh, I'll show you lagging!" I said and lunged forwards, latching onto his legs.

We both went under water and went with the current for a little bit before I released his legs. We shot up to the surface, gasping for air before we started laughing. It felt nice to relax with each other and have fun as a boy and a girl and not as a boy and a boy.

"Lu-chan, Hiro-chan!" Honey yelled as he got in the water with Mori.

"Hey Honey, Mori," we greeted them and gripped the wall, making our way towards them.

At this point, Mori was swimming against the current, not moving much like when Luca was swimming, with Honey sitting on his back, a pink inflatable ring with a flowery pattern around his waist. Luca started swimming beside Mori, a silent competition going between the two to see who could last the longest. I smiled at the sight, glad that Luca was doing well intermingling with the Host club. Even though I was forced into the club for finding out Haruhi's little secret, I couldn't help but feel that they were my friends.

"Hey guys, take a look at this!" Honey yelled to the others, who instantly looked over with an expression of surprise. Something tells me that they weren't exactly surprised by the fact Mori an Luca weren't moving. "We're not going forwards!"

"You guys have fun with that, I'm gonna go and get a drink," I said and climbed out of the flow pool.

Just as i was about to join Kyoya under the umbrella table, I felt water hit me in the side of the head and an unpleasant noise from Tamaki told me he got the same treatment. The twins stood by each other, smiling and holding water guns they got from who knows where.

"Lets play," Kaoru said.

"Me and Kaoru vs. Tamaki and Hiroki," Hikaru said cheekily, tossing us water guns.

While I happily pumped my water gun, forgetting my thirst, Tamaki grabbed a towel from Kyoya to dry his face, looking rather annoyed.

"Who wants to play such childish-"

But Hikaru saw this coming and took Haruhi's hand with his, and said, "Haruhi, let's get married right now and we'll honeymoon in Atami."

Immediately Tamaki grabbed his water gun and started pumping it. Grinning, we both started shooting at the twins, chasing them all around the Aqua Garden. Tamaki was shouting profanities at the twins as I laughed wickedly. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Now I'm kind of glad that they kidnapped me, even though I was supposed to be home, getting ready for dinner with the family, Luca, and Lilou.

From the corner of my eye as I gunned down Kaoru, I saw Mori leave the flow pool, leaving Honey and Luca in the water. Haruhi handed him a drink, reminding just how dry my mouth felt.

"Nyeh, I give," I said, letting up on my attack. "Tamaki, you're on your own! Have fun gunning him down, Kaoru!"

I tossed him my gun since I knocked his away earlier when I started shooting him. He grinned and ran off towards his twin to regroup. Humming to myself, I skipped over to Haruhi and Mori, who was drinking the fruity drink Haruhi handed him just seconds ago.

"May I have a drink of that, Mori?" I asked, rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet.

He nodded and just handed me the glass. I smiled gratefully at him before taking a sip of the drink. An explosion of tropical flavors danced on my tongue and down my throat. It was really good and did a fantastic job of satisfying my thirst. I let out a sound of satisfaction before looking over at Honey and Luca, both of them swimming against the current.

"Hey! You guys want a drink? I asked then took another sip.

"_**TAKE THIS! DEADLY BLOW SIDEWAY ROLLING BEAM!**_" Tamaki roared as he shot at the twins, barreling sideways.

On the brightside, he hit them. On the down side, he crashed into a lever. The lever just so happened to create a giant ass wave in the flow pool. Honey and Luca didn't take notice of this until it hit them and they were shot down the now rapidly moving flow pool.

"Mitsukuni!" Mori yelled, running towards the flow pool with me in tow.

"You're fucking six foot five, Luca! How the fuck can you be swept away that easily!" I yelled, my voice laced with worry.

Mori prepared to jump in the water and I was about to follow his actions until I noticed something.

"Mori, that way is-" he jumped in the water, being carried in the opposite direction Honey and Luca were being carried. "The counter current!"

I looked both ways and since Mori was closer, I ran down by the flow pool after my taller senpai.

"Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai are being drifted away at top speed!" the twins yelled in a panic.

"Kyoya! How do you make this stop?" Tamaki shouted.

"There isn't any way to stop it since the lever is broken," Kyoya said, probably the only calm one out of the entire group.

"You guys get Honey, I got Mori!" I yelled to them, jumping over the two flow pools and landed on solid ground.

"Right, you heard Hiroki! Lets go after Honey-senpai!" Tamaki yelled and started running in the opposite direction of me . . . only to step on an alligator.

Alligators started coming out of the wazoo, but I did my best to avoid them. In one quick motion, I jumped over the jowls of an alligator and when I landed, grabbed Mori's hand. I was nearly pulled into the water, but with a loud and unladylike grunt, I stood my ground and pulled Mori's towards the wall of the pool. He pulled himself out of the water and just in time too. A school of piranha came by in the pool. In response to that, I looked over at the other group that was running around all over the place where the glasses wearing Host was.

"Just what kind of 'relaxing' aqua garden is this!" I yelled, still panting slightly from the effort of pulling Mori to shore.

Mori patted my head, probably as a sign of thanks, and we scrambled towards the larger group, hopping over the pools with ease. We all ran into the jungle to escape the alligators, pretty deep in there actually. They, minus Kyoya, collapsed on the ground, panting from all the running in fear they did. I kneeled beside Haruhi, gently patting her back and Mori kneeled next to me.

"The alligator pasture is extremely dangerous. The piranha pond should be fixed again, and there is a problem with the position of the lever," Kyoya said to himself as he took down notes in his little book. "Should have a talk with the infrastructure department . . . Thanks to you, I collected useful data."

I narrowed my eyes at Kyoya as we all stood up. He looked too happy.

"You see, the facilities were still at an experimental stage," Kyoya said.

"So in other words . . . we're just guinea pigs," I said slowly then looked around at our surroundings. We were in the middle of the jungle with a few grass huts here and there. It makes me wonder just how big this aqua garden is. "Well, more like mice now, considering we might be lost . . . where are we exactly, Kyoya?"

"It must be the North gate's subtropical zone. Ah, in that case," Kyoya said and walked under a hut just as it started pouring heavily. "It's time for a squall experience service."

"It's a squall! Haruhi, hurry towards the hut!" Tamaki yelled urgently but then saw Hikaru and Kaoru standing on either side of Haruhi, telling her that she was okay and to not worry about Tamaki. In response, Tamaki kicked water at the twins.

But soon enough, we were all under the same hut standing around a map of the aqua garden, the twins armed with their water guns. Seriously, where are they pulling those out of?

"Is everyone all set and ready?" Tamaki asked unusually seriously.

"Yes sir!" the twins saluted, striking a symmetrical pose with their water guns.

"This map is showing the area in the area in the garden. Our current location should be here. And there are two possible places of the senpai's and Luca's whereabouts," Tamaki said, pointing at the map. "We gotta cover almost two square miles!"

"The road's got lots of element's that we don't know," Haruhi said.

"That zone is still not open yet," Kyoya added.

"Alright, here's the situation! We have to make our way safely through the jungle and save Luca and Honey-senpai! To increase our efficiency we'll divide into two teams. Mori will lead one and I will lead the other. The ones who have courage and wish to follow me onwards, grab onto . . ."

At this point we started walking away with Kyoya saying, "I suggest we go this way."

"Oi! What are you standing there for? We're leaving you behind, Tamaki!" Hikaru said, leaving Tamaki running after us.

I walked between Haruhi and Mori, deep in thought. My thoughts were on Luca and Honey. While Luca was just as tall as Mori and strong, he should easily have been able to get out of the water. Honey, meanwhile, was the Haninozuka prodigy and a hell of a lot stronger than anyone I have ever met, so he would probably also have an easy time getting out of the pool. What I worried about though was if they got hurt when they were still in the flow pool. Luca has already had his fair share of injuries in his life, he didn't need anymore. But knowing him, he probably did whatever he could to keep Honey. Like a substitute Mori of sorts. He's just that kind of guy.

"Mori-senpai just fell into a ditch!" Hikaru yelled, interrupting my thoughts and sure enough, Mori's leg was stuck in a ditch.

I helped him out of the ditch while the twins and Tamaki bickered with each other, but slipped carelessly on the wet grass and got my leg caught in the same ditch. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"If they're friends from childhood . . ." Haruhi mumbled to herself as she watched Takashi carefully pull my eg from the ditch and did a once over to see if I was okay.

"Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai are cousins," the twins said, shocking Haruhi.

"The Morinozuka has served the Haninozuka family for generations," Kyoya said.

"Although the two families were relatives two generations ago," Hikaru began.

"Mori-senpai still stays close to Honey-senpai," Kaoru finished.

"It's the blood that's still flowing in him," Tamaki said. "The same blood from the past generations . . . but the bond between Hiroki and Luca, that is still unclear."

"He saved me," I said aloud, getting their attention while looking at Mori as he . . . sniffed the dirt on his arm. "It was right after I got my glasgow smile. There was so much blood . . . he didn't know how much longer I could last like that, so he fight our way to freedom and saved my life. I know it's a half assed explanation, but it's all I'm willing to give right now. It's not just my story to tell now, but Luca's as well so I can't help but worry about him. I have a debt to repay."

"Mori-senpai, Hiroki, don't worry. Honey-senpai and Luca will be safe," Haruhi said, kneeling beside the two of us. "Honey-senpai is unusually healthy and if he's hungry there are wild fruits around, and I'm sure Luca will have no problem looking after Honey-senpai."

We stood up and Mori patted Haruhi on the head, a ghost of a smile on his face. I just smiled at Haruhi and giggled a little. She had no idea how Luca can be so protective of people barely knows, but of his friends and family? Well, I hope Honey can deal with Luca's overprotective behavior.

"Mori senpai wants to take the place of 'dad's' position," Tamaki muttered, staring at the three of us from behind a tree.

"Not at all," the twins said bluntly.

Kyoya's cell phone started ringing, so he answered it. "Ahh, it's me. No . . . it's a kind of troublesome situation . . ."

"Speaking of which, it worried me," Kaoru said.

"Your highness, today you haven't even once . . ." Hikaru started then with his twin said, "said 'I want to see Haruhi in a swimsuit.'"

Then they leaned in close to his blushing face, whispering things into his ear. Tamaki shook his head and started screaming at the twins.

"_**I'M MERELY TAKING NECESSARY MEASURES AS A DAD! A WOMAN ONLY SHOWS HER BARE SKIN DURING MARRIAGE!**_" Tamaki screeched.

"Then how come you're letting Hiroki walk around in her bathing suit?" Kaoru asked.

Yep, I was still wearing my tankini and swim shorts and yep, the tankini showed off a good amount of cleavage.

Tamaki looked stumped. He was lost in thought for a few moments before coming up with something. "Our dear Hiroki deserves anything she wants to feel as beautiful as she looks, even if it means showing a little skin. If this is what Hiroki feels pretty in, then I'm okay with it."

I looked towards Mori and Haruhi, a warm feeling overcoming my heart. It was sweet to hear Tamaki say something like that instead of talking about Haruhi. It was clear the "king" was developing a crush on our little Haruhi, but he either confused it with fatherly love or didn't want to admit it and disguised it as fatherly love. Either way, it felt nice that he was recognizing me for once as an individual and not clumped together with Haruhi. Haruhi is my only female friend outside the family and Madame Bellerose, I love her as such, but sometimes it gets tiring when Tamaki groups us together in one of his hair brained schemes.

Mori suddenly grabbed my wrist and started pulling me in a different direction as the group was going while the others were distracted. Well, everyone but Haruhi that is.

"Mori-senpai, Hiroki, it's not that way. Honey-senpai and Luca should be-"

"No, they're this way," Mori said as he continued to tug me along. I didn't mind. If he had a feeling of where they were, I would follow him even if it lead to nowhere. His bond with Honey is what I really trusted. They're inseparable, so I would think they may have a strong enough connection that they kind of acted like siblings and knew when one was in trouble or something.

"Hold on, wait for me!" haruhi said and ran after us, getting scratched and hit by the plants as she followed us.

"I think haruhi needs help, Mori," I said, looking up at him.

He nodded in agreement. Mori held out his hand to the shorter girl and called out her name. She took it and he lifted her into his arms, only holding her with one like she was a child. I chuckled at the sight and walked next to Mori in silence.

* * *

"Alright, then I am counting on your immediate cooperation," Kyoya said and hung up his phone. He looked towards the others and held in a sigh at the sight of Tamaki curled up in a ball on the ground, sobbing, and the twins standing in front of him, looking at the pitiful king and saying empty apologies. "A search party will soon be arriving. It should be better than us trying to find him. It would be better to wait at the gate . . . huh?"

Tamaki, snapping out of his little tantrum, looked in the direction Kyoya was. He and the twins gasped.

"Where are Mori-senpai, Haruhi, and Hiroki?" Kyoya asked.

* * *

"_**URGENT MOBILIZATION ANNOUNCEMENT. URGENT MOBILIZATION ANNOUNCEMENT. KYOYA-SAMA'S FRIENDS HAS DISAPPEARED AROUND THE WATER-RUNNING POOL SECTOR. MORE IN DEPTH INFO HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED YET. THERE'S A DANGER THAT THEY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN AN UNEXPECTED ACCIDENT. **_

"_**SEARCH TARGET IS 'A BOY OF SMALL STATURE' AND 'A TALLER MALE WITH SCARS'. ARREST ANYONE SUSPICIOUS WITHOUT FAIL!"**_

* * *

I backed up until I was touching Mori's back with my own. We were surrounded by men holding rifles wearing camouflage pants, black boots, tank tops, black fingerless gloves, and bureaus. It didn't help that one man was shoving the end of his rifle in my face. My eyes widened and my heart was thumping against my ribcage rapidly. This brought back unpleasant memories and I swear to god if he didn't point that thing anywhere else, I was going to lose my shit.

"_**PUT THAT SMALL KID DOWN AND RELEASE THE GIRL AND BOY TO US!**_" one of the men commanded, thinking that maybe the order was read wrong and instead of a male with scars, they were supposed to look for a girl with scars..

But I pressed closer to Mori and he remained silent. They decided to take action and try to grab me and Haruhi. With his free hand, Mori started hitting away the ones closest to him, but couldn't save Haruhi or me from being grabbed by the men. As soon as the man who held the gun in my face grabbed my arm, I lost my shit.

"_**GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME**_!" I screamed, kicking him in the groin and taking his rifle while he fell to the ground in pain.

With the butt of the rifle, I hit him across the face and knocked him unconscious. I did the same with one of the men trying to take Haruhi away. This was bringing up unpleasant memories but I couldn't stop what i was doing. Not until all these men were gone.

"They're showing resistance! Prepare to fire!" the commander yelled and I narrowed my eyes at him.

An animal instinct took over and I lunged at the commander and tackled him to the ground. I knocked his gun away, straddling his waist, and shoved my rifle in his face, but I was smart enough not to have my finger of the trigger.

"I suggest you gather your men and leave. _**Now.**_" I hissed.

"We're trying to rescue you!" the man exclaimed and flipped over so now that he was straddling me as he tried taking the rifle from my grasp. But it proved to be a difficult task.

"Takashi, Haruhi, move out!" We all heard Honey yell as he and Luca swung down my vines.

"Get away from her, vous salaud! **[you bastard!]**" Luca yelled darkly as he came and kicked the man in the head, knocking him a few feet away. "Si jamais vous posez vos mains sales sur son nouveau, je vais mettre une balle entre les deux yeux! **[If you ever lay your filthy hands on her again, I'll put a bullet between your eyes!]**"

Him and Honey began kicking ass. I just sat up, hyperventilating a little as I realized I was crying a little. Haruhi looked over, still in complete and utter shock at the sight of Honey lifting a fully grown man and flipping him over his small body. She sobered up a little when she saw the state I was in and walked over to help calm me down. At this point in time, Luca got his hands on a rifle and let loose a few shots into the air, possibly signaling our location or warning any other that might be near by to back off.

"Heh . . . you dare to be so noisy when you can't even fight properly!" Honey exclaimed, sounding a little disappointed. Then he tried to act a little serious and pointed at them. "If you mess with my friend, you are a goner!"

"I will not hesitate to put a bullet in you if you _dare_ touch or even treat mes amis like that again, bien?" Luca demanded in a lower, more threatening voice as he rested the rifle against his shoulder. He then noticed the brand and model of the rifle and scoffed. "You don't deserve to use the Mikhailov weaponry."

"Hiroki, are you okay?" Haruhi asked as she rubbed my back in a comforting manner.

"Uh, yeah," I said and took a deep breath, wiping away the tears and putting a rather pathetic smile on my face. "Sorry, I lost my cool there for a bit."

"Did it bring up bad memories?" Haruhi asked quietly so the others wouldn't hear.

"If you're referring to if it reminds of my little incident . . . yeah. It brings up bad memories," I mumbled and stood up, putting on a cheery front. "Thanks for saving me back there, Luca!"

"Oh, mon ami, your face is all red and you have leaves and sticks in your hair," Luca said, his darker side hidden for now as he fussed over my appearance. "Did he hurt you? Because if he did-"

"I'm fine, Luca, really. I kind of lost my cool in the first place," I said with a shrug.

"That is to be expected when you were forced into a similar situation," Luca sighed then ruffled my hair. "Was everything okay while I was gone?"

"Yep! Mori took good care of me for you while you were gone!" I said with a smile as I fixed my hair.

"Haruhi! You alright!" we heard the voice of Tamaki yell.

Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru, and Kyoya were rushing towards us. Tamaki lunged at Haruhi and pulled her into a hug while the twins inspected the damage done to the men. Hikaru even picked up a stick that was lying around and started poking one of the men I knocked out.

"I don't know what happened but it seems like everything's fine," Hikaru said, poking the man's cheek. "Honey-senpai beat them all?"

"Not all, Luca had his fair share and I did in that one and him over there," I said, pointing in the direction of the first man I took out.

"Wait, hold on, how did-" Haruhi began but the twins interrupted her.

"You didn't know?" Kaoru asked, sounding and looking surprised.

"The Haninozuka family is renowned for military arts," the twins said at the same time.

"During middle school, Honey participated in the national championship with Judo and barehanded fights and became the champ! It's why my parents wanted me to learn the Haninozuka martial arts style," I explained, chuckling a little at her defeated appearance. "Mori is also the national Kendo champion and Luca's no slouch either. Since he's the heir to a powerful weapon company, his father and grandfather taught him to defend himself using all kinds of weapons, mostly guns since that's their main product. But he's probably the best marksman in Japan now."

Haruhi just collapsed to her knees at the idea of how strong and powerful they really were. I laughed and patted her on the back.

"Honey-senpai, Luca-senpai, how did you get here?" the twins asked.

"Well, we got to the edge of the pool and afterwards we started looking for you guys," Honey explained then turned to Mori, pulling him down a little so he could pat him on the head. "You were Haruhi's most noble protector, Takashi. You weren't too lonely without me, right?"

"Not really," Mori answered, glancing in the direction of Haruhi and me.

Honey smiled and hopped onto Mori's back. "Carry me to the exit~"

Mori did just that, heading towards the exit that I didn't notice was there before. The twins just sighed.

"Didn't get to have fun properly," Hikaru said disappointedly. "Maybe it was a mistake to come after the dismissal."

But then they got these grins on their faces as they slithered over and wrapped their arms around my shoulders, making a Hiroki sandwich. "Say~ We should do the beach for summer vacation!"

"That sounds awesome! I haven't been to a beach in years!" I agreed with the twins, slinging my arms around their shoulders and grinning cheekily.

"Yes, the beach is a lovely idea, mes amis~" Luca said with a smile, coming up behind us, still holding the rifle.

"Why would Haruhi be interested in that?" Tamaki asked, pulling down his bottom eyelid and sticking his tongue out at us.

"The beach? I might want to go to the beach," Haruhi admitted with a cute look on her face.

"Haruhi?" Tamaki yelped, sounding betrayed by her words.

"I've always found these fancy-schmancy artificial places a major turn-off," Haruhi said with a shrug.

"What's wrong with 'em?" the twins and I asked as we all exited the building only to find it was night time.

Perfect, my family was going to murder me for not showing up with Luca. I guess we'll just have to schedule dinner for another night, but I'm not sure how long Tao can skip school or how long Dad could put off work. I just hope that they'll go easy on the punishment.

* * *

**Omake Theatre - The Suoh Family Story**

I was sitting on the floor in the family room, tinkering with my video camera and the different effects it had. A knock on the door interrupted me and I jumped to my feet with my camera in hand. I switched the power on and ran towards the door.

"I got it!" I yelled so everyone else in the house could hear then pressed the record button.

I opened the door to reveal my neighbors, Honey and Mori, along with a new face. He was taller than Mori by a few inches and had this pleasant smile on his face.

"Hi Hiro-chan! This Luca, he's gonna be living with me and Takashi for awhile!" Honey said as he bounced inside, Mori and Luca trailing behind him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, jolie fille," Luca said with a slight French accent.

"The name's Hiroki and it's nice to meet you too!" I said and shook his hand with my free one.

"Good evening! We invited ourselves to dinner!" Honey greeted my family as he sat at the table with Papa Tamaki, Mama Kyoya, and the twins.

"Fine, the more the merrier!" Papa Tamaki said cheerfully as he held a bottle of sake.

"Wow! Looks delicious!" Honey said as he, Mori, and Luca sat around the table.

"Hang on, I just need to finish one more dish!" Haruhi said from the kitchen.

I skipped around the kitchen to set up my camera on it's tripod then skipped over to big sister Haruhi, who was in the middle of making dinner.

"Can I help, Haruhi?" I asked.

"Sure, Hiroki, put an apron on first and wash your hands," Haruhi instructed me as she cut up some vegetables.

I grabbed one of the many spare aprons and it just so happened that mine had cute little animals all over it. Haruhi placed me in charge of stirring the pot while she cut up the vegetables.

"Why should our daughters do all the work? Our neighbor's wife should help out, I think," we heard Mama Kyoya say from the other room.

"Oh! True, I should've thought of it!" Honey said sheepishly.

It wasn't long before Mori was in the kitchen, wearing an apron with a bunny on the chest. Luca was also there, wearing an apron with cats on it. He said that since he wasn't exactly invited, he felt that he should help in anyway that he could.

"Have fun Takashi, Lu-chan!" Honey said, his head peeking in through the doorway before he went back over to Tamaki to join him for drinks. It was funny to see Honey drink and eventually get drunk. He always did funny dances and started singing. But just when its about to get really good, Mori steps in and takes Honey home before he can embarrass himself.

"Um, can you do the green onions, Mori? And can you add spices to the soup, Luca?" Haruhi asked.

"Sure thing," Luca said cheerfully while Mori nodded.

I made room so Luca could stand over the pot of broth, vegetables, and chunks of meat. As he was adding in some spices, one of the spice bottles slipped from hand and fell into the pot, splashing incredibly hot liquid onto my hands.

"_Yeow_!" I exclaimed and pulled my hands away, blowing on them gently.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, Hiroki! Je suis désolé, je suis désolé, je suis désolé! **[I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!]**" Luca spoke in rapid French as he and Mori came to my aid. Big sister Haruhi, meanwhile, was fishing out the bottle of spices with a big spoon, glancing in my direction every now and then.

Mori gently took my hands and ran them under cool water while Luca continued to apologize repeatedly in French.

"C'est bon, vraiment. **[It's okay, really.]**" I said, surprising him, and smiled in his direction. "It was just an accident. Besides, Mori is taking good care of me!"

After Mori pulled my hands out of the water and inspected them, having me flex my hands, he deemed that I was okay and ruffled my hair. We all went back to work, but this time around, Luca made sure he had a good hold on the bottles.

* * *

**Hallo, is'a me, Gabby!**

**This chapter is shorter than the others, but I wanted to get it out today 'cause it's my birthday! Plus, it was getting close to two weeks since I last updated. I'm starting college now, so if I don't get swamped with school work, I'll try and update every two weeks, give or take a few days.**

**Not much else to say other than I hope you enjoyed!**

**Toodles~**


End file.
